We saw it coming: Asteroid monitored from outer space to ground impact (last October)

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2009

We saw it coming: Asteroid monitored from outer space to ground impact
Sandians Mark Boslough and Dick Spalding watch it in real time

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Reports by scientists of meteorites striking Earth in the past have resembled police reports of so many muggings — the offenders came out of nowhere and then disappeared into the crowd, making it difficult to get more than very basic facts.

Now an international research team has been able to identify an asteroid in space before it entered Earth’s atmosphere, enabling computers to determine its area of origin in the solar system as well as predict the arrival time and location on Earth of its shattered surviving parts.

“I would say that this work demonstrates, for the first time, the ability of astronomers to discover and predict the impact of a space object,” says Sandia National Laboratories researcher Mark Boslough, a member of the research team.

Perhaps more importantly, the event tested the ability of society to respond very quickly to a predicted impact, says Boslough. “In this case, it was never a threat, so the response was scientific. Had it been deemed a threat — a larger asteroid that would explode over a populated area — an alert could have been issued in time that could potentially save lives by evacuating the danger zone or instructing people to take cover.”

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