Why asteroids explode

As Melosh indicated:. Most of the computer codes we use for simulating impacts can tolerate multiple materials in a cell, but they average everything together. Different materials in the cell use their individual identity, which is not appropriate for this kind of calculation. This new code allowed them to fully simulate the exchange of energy and momentum between the entering meteoroid and the interacting atmospheric air.

During the simulations, air that was pushed into the meteoroid was allowed to percolate inside, which lowered the strength of the meteoroid significantly. In essence, air was able to reach the insides of the meteoroid and caused it to explode from the inside out. This not only solved the mystery of where the Chelyabinsk meteoroid's missing mass went, it was also consistent with the air burst effect that was observed in The study also indicates that when it comes to smaller meteroids, Earth's best defense is its atmosphere.

Combined with early warning procedures, which were lacking during the Chelyabinsk meteroid event, injuries can be avoided in the future. This article was originally published by Universe Today. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. Login or Register Customer Service. RISE —. PHASE —.

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Learn about the Moon in a great new book New book chronicles the space program. Dave's Universe Year of Pluto. Groups Why Join? Astronomy Day. The Complete Star Atlas. Researchers identify new and previously overlooked mechanism for air penetration that helps explain why meteoroids explode.

Photographer Marat Ahmetvaleev was taking panoramic photos of the winter landscape when he captured this beautiful image of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid as it exploded over Russia in Note to journalists: A copy of the paper is available here.

Air penetration enhances fragmentation of entering meteroids. The break-up of the meteoroid was characterized by intense fragmentation that dispersed most of the original mass. We implement a two- material computer code that allows us to fully simulate the exchange of energy and momentum between the entering meteoroid and the interacting atmospheric air.

Our simulations reveal a previously unrecognized process in which the penetration of high- pressure air into the body of the meteoroid greatly enhances the deformation and facilitates the break-up of meteoroids similar to the size of Chelyabinsk.

We discuss the mechanism of air penetration that accounts for the bulk fragmentation of an entering meteoroid under conditions similar to those at Chelyabinsk, to explain the surprisingly low values of the apparent strength of the meteoroid during break-up. Trouble with this page?