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Signs in the Heavens
A great amount of attention is focused on the skies in our times. There are several reasons for this. Scientific advances in observation technologies have allowed us to learn much more about our space neighbors. We now know much more about the existence and orbits of small objects which could come near, or even strike the Earth.
Our own ventures into space are a second major reason for this interest. In our generation we have placed so many objects into orbit above us that it is almost impossible to track all of the functioning and non-functioning satellites.
Asteroids
About 5,000 asteroids are known to exist, and it is believed that there are as many as 30,000 of them in our Solar System. 1600 of these are watched carefully. Most of them are controlled by Jupiter. About 40 of them are known to intersect the Earth's orbit ("Asteroid", New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia)
The Asteroid belt, where most of them are found is between Mars and Jupiter.
In 1937 the asteroid Hermes came very close to earth. It passed within 500,000 miles, only twice the distance between the Earth the Moon. This is a "near miss." Our gravitational pull can affect something coming this close.
In 1989 an asteroid that was 5 miles in diameter came dangerously close. It will pass again some time after the turn of the century. (Educational News TV., Aug. '89)
Some asteroids we know about are:
- Ceres - largest known - 488 miles diameter
- Pallas - 379 miles diameter
- Vesta - 336 miles diameter
- Junu - 120 miles diameter
- Icarus - 1 mile diameter: a "small flying mountain."
In the Book of Revelation one often reads about a "falling star." The Greek word for star is aster. ( Like "Esther" and "asteroid.")
Scientists have often suggested that an earlier collision with an asteroid may have caused mass extinctions and the onset of an ice age. However, a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis would suggest these events were caused by the great flood of Noah's days.
Meteors and Meteorites
These are "Boulder-sized" asteroids. The largest one discovered was about 70 tons. They are often called "shooting stars," since they leave bright streaks in the atmosphere as they burn up. Those that do not completely burn up before hitting the earth are called meteorites.
One hit Arizona in prehistoric times causing a crater 4100 feet across & 600 feet deep! About 500 of them strike the earth each year. About 120 impact sites are known. ("Meteor and Meteorite", New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia)
Comets
We hear of comets occasionally, such as Halley's Comet and the Swift Tuttle Comet.
In 1994, Shoemaker-Levey 9, a comet with 21 fragments collided with Jupiter from July 16 through 22. The speed of this "comet train" was 37 miles per second (133,200 mph). This is 60 times speed of a bullet! At this speed, one could go from New York. to Los Angeles. in 1 minute and 22 seconds. The first chunk of this comet hit Jupiter with a force of perhaps a million hydrogen bombs. It was photographed by powerful telescopes on earth which showed that it caused a mushroom cloud of gas nearly 1000 miles into space, and left a dark splotch, half the size of Earth. ( Time Magazine, 7/25/94 - p. 57)
The combined size of the 21 pieces was between 1/2 mi. and 2 1/2 mi. in diameter. The combined energy could be 20 million megatons (compare the largest bomb ever made: Soviet's 58 megaton)! This total impact is (greater than the combined force of all nuclear devices ever made.
One writer said that such a comet train hitting the Earth could incinerate whole countries and produce a dust cloud that would bring on nuclear winter. It would kill millions, or perhaps billions, of people. (Time Magazine, 5/23/94 - p. 61)
In 1908 a comet in Siberia flattened the surrounding forests for 40 miles, and could be felt more than 100 miles away. Pressure waves from this event were recorded in London.
— Source Unknown
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