Possible Impacts of NEOs with Earth Research Paper

Possible Impacts of NEOs with Earth - Research Paper Example When deciding the potential danger an NEO can ensue, the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, or simply the Torino scale, is consulted, which measures and categorizes the impact hazards that are associated with near-Earth objects. The Torino scale ranges from zero to ten, with zero is that there is no likelihood of a collision, though it also applies to smaller objects that burn up within the Earth’s atmosphere, and ten meaning that a collision is most certainly going to happen, â€Å"threatening the future of civilization as we know it.†3 The Torino scale is also split up into five colored zones: white, meaning no hazard, which consists of the zero level; green, normal, which consists of level one; yellow, meriting attention by astronomers, which consists of levels two, three and four; orange, threatening, consisting of levels five, six and seven; and red, certain collisions, which consists of levels eight through ten. Each color and number reveals certain levels of danger and damage in regard to each NEO that is discovered. The Torino scale allows astronomers to understand and keep an eye on certain NEOs that they believe could collide with the Earth, as well as brushing aside the ones that stand no chance of a collision. A meteorite hitting Earth’s atmosphere is a very common occurrence, though these are usually small enough to burn up within the atmosphere. Many of them that do make it past the atmosphere is tiny, often pebble-sized, by the time that they land on Earth’s surface. There are thousands that do not even make it to pebble-sized but end up as bits of dust. This in itself shows that an NEO impacting the Earth is very plausible, as it happens often with smaller, almost unnoticeable objects. It has been estimated that approximately 37,000-78,000 tons of mass of material fall to Earth on a yearly basis.4  There is sufficient proof that larger NEOs have collided with the Earth in past centuries, such as the asteroid that presumedl y wiped out the dinosaurs millions of years ago. Another larger NEO that has collided with the Earth is the meteorite that formed Meteorite Crater in Arizona over 50,000 years ago.