Wednesday, February 17, 2016

9,000 Near Earth Objects Found and a Mystery






9,000 Near Earth Objects Found and a Mystery  http://bit.ly/1Q2BZ6h

The vast majority of NEOs originate in the doughnut-shaped main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The orbit of a main-belt asteroid slowly changes as it is pushed by the uneven release of excess solar heat from the asteroid’s surface.

The asteroid’s orbit eventually interacts with the orbital motions of Jupiter and Saturn changing the trajectory to bring the asteroid close to the Earth. An asteroid is classified as an NEO when its smallest distance from the Sun during an orbit is less than 1.3 times the average Earth-Sun distance.


The actual mechanism causing asteroids to disrupt is still unknown but some obvious scenarios such as tidal forces caused by the Sun and direct sublimation of silicates have been ruled out. One of the remaining scenarios is that volatiles inside the asteroid sublimate at moderate temperatures and create enough pressure to blow up the body. A similar process on a smaller scale called spalling can also break up surface rocks.


An artist’s conception of a complete disintegration of an asteroid as a result of repeated close encounters with the Sun.


M
ore http://bit.ly/1Q2BZ6h



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