Earth in danger

Understanding the risks for human life

Juraj Vančo93. prístav vodných skautov a skautiek Tortuga Trenčín

Sep 2013

Agenda

• Voting • Comets and meteors• Observation Expedition for Meteors

Kykula 2013 • Known meteors in the recent history• Solar wind• Impacts (physics)

Comets and meteors• Comet: an object flying in the universe– Known track, ellipsoidal (Kepler’s law)– Solar system: Sun is the mass point– Usually cannot be observed by naked-eye– Known shuffles: Halley, Hale Bopp, Hyakutake

• Meteor: an object released from shuffle– Track roughly copies mother’s shuffle track– Predictable– Small size– Can be observed by naked-eye

Observation Expedition for MeteorsKykula 2013

• Perseids• Mother shuffle: Swift- Tuffle– Circuit period: 120 years– Last traversal: 25 years ago– Date: around 10th of August (Vavrinec)

• Expedition Conditions:– Moon in last quarter – No clouds – After rain

Observation Expedition for MeteorsKykula 2013

• Central point: Perseus– Where is Perseus?– What does it mean?

• Typical properties: fast, long• Another method of observation: radio waves– How does it work?

Known meteors

Known meteors

• “meteorit”: meteor fallen on the Earth’s surface

• Explosions: one or more– Explosion severity: atom bomb has less power

• Past 100 years meteors (http://bolid.es)– Tunguska (Siberia) in 1914– Čeljabinsk (Siberia) in 2013– Košice (Slovakia) in 2011

Known meteors

• Observed: column of bluish light as bright as the Sun

• 10 – 15 Mtons of TNT ~ 1000 x Hiroshima bomb

Known meteors

• “meteorit”: meteor fallen on the Earth’s surface

• Explosions: one or more– Explosion severity: atom bomb has less power

• Past 100 years meteors (http://bolid.es)– Tunguska (Siberia) in 1914– Čeljabinsk (Siberia) in 2013– Košice (Slovakia) in 2011

Known meteors

• 440 ktons of TNT ~ 20 – 30 x Hiroshima bomb

Known meteors

• “meteorit”: meteor fallen on the Earth’s surface

• Explosions: one or more– Explosion severity: atom bomb has less power

• Past 100 years meteors (http://bolid.es)– Tunguska (Siberia) in 1914– Čeljabinsk (Siberia) in 2013– Košice (Slovakia) in 2011

Solar wind

• Ionised mass particles released from the Sun’s gravitation– Sun’s activity period

• The Sun: eruptions• Effects for the Earth– The most vulnerablesystems: satellites,electronics

Solar wind

• Ionised mass particles released from the Sun’s gravitation– Sun’s activity period

• The Sun: eruptions• Effects for the Earth– The most vulnerablesystems: satellites,electronics

Solar wind impacts

• Effects for the Earth– 1972: telecom AT&T, USA– 1989: electricityblackout, Canada– 2000: satellitesdestroyed (short circuit)– 2006: GPS blackout,satellites

NASA new mission: asteroids

• So, when?

• Voting?

• Thanks for watching• Q & A