A photo from open sources PHOTO: NASA next fall The red planet can survive a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. 50 km diameter comet could collide with Mars in October next year. In case this event occurs, it will stand out energy equivalent to 20 billion mt, and the diameter of the crater will be approximately 500 kilometers. Comet C / 2013 A1 was discovered at the beginning 2013 by astronomers at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory. IN 04:20 GMT on October 19, 2014 the comet will pass at a distance about 0.0007 astronomical units, or 105 thousand km from the center Mars. “Current comet orbit uncertainties are quite a collision scenario is also possible, although the likelihood of such a the events are small, “- said in a statement posted on the site Russian observatory ISON-NM. Possible disaster scientists call an event of planetary proportions. Comet moves on the so-called retrograde orbit, in the opposite direction along relative to the direction of motion of the planets of the solar system. Given that the own speed of movement in the orbit of Mars exceeds 24 km / s, the speed of collision of a comet with a planet can exceed 56 km / second. The only case of collisions of large celestial bodies that astronomers observed was the fall of a comet D / 1993 F2 (Shoemakers – Levy) on Jupiter in July 1994. Open a year before this event, the comet by Jupiter’s gravity was torn into parts. At the entrance to the atmosphere of the giant planet, the comet highlighted energy equivalent to 6 million megatons. Diameter formed on Jupiter’s surface spots exceeded 12 thousand km, and the gas cloud was thrown to a height of 3 thousand kilometers. Interest in space threats sharply increased after the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which happened on February 15th. The shock wave knocked out windows in 3 thousand buildings, more than one and a half thousand local residents were injured due to cuts broken glass and falling window frames. According to scientists, the energy released during the destruction of a meteorite is equivalent to an explosion from 100 to 200 ct, the diameter of the celestial body did not exceed 20 m, and its speed was approximately 30 km / second.
Vadim ANUFRIEV
Mars Jupiter
