A preliminary reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid

ORIGINAL: Cornell Universidad de Antioquia

A preliminary reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid

Jorge I. Zuluaga, Ignacio Ferrin

(Submitted on 21 Feb 2013)

In February 15 2013 a medium-sized meteoroid impacted the atmosphere in the region of Chelyabinsk, Russia. After its entrance to the atmosphere and after travel by several hundred of kilometers the body exploded in a powerful event responsible for physical damages and injured people spread over a region enclosing several large cities. We present in this letter the results of a preliminary reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid. Using evidence gathered by one camera at the Revolution Square in the city of Chelyabinsk and other videos recorded by witnesses in the close city of Korkino, we calculate the trajectory of the body in the atmosphere and use it to reconstruct the orbit in space of the meteoroid previous to the violent encounter with our planet. In order to account for the uncertainties implicit in the determination of the trajectory of the body in the atmosphere, we use Monte Carlo methods to calculate the most probable orbital parameters. We use this result to classify the meteoroid among the near Earth asteroid families finding that the parent body belonged to the Apollo asteroids. Although semimajor axis and inclination of the preliminary orbit computed by us are uncertain, the rest of orbital elements are well constrained in this preliminary reconstruction.

Comments: 10 pages, 3 figures. Further details, updates, images, plots and videos available at: this http URL

Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)

Cite as: arXiv:1302.5377 [astro-ph.EP]

(or arXiv:1302.5377v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)

Submission history

From: Jorge Zuluaga [view email] 
[v1] Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:17:11 GMT (756kb)

Which authors of this paper are endorsers?

The Chelyabinsk Meteoroid

Reconstructing the Orbit

In February 15 2013 a medium-sized meteoroid impacted the atmosphere in the region of Chelyabinsk, Russia. After its entrance to the atmosphere and after travel by several hun- dred of kilometers the body exploded in a powerful event responsible for physical damages and injured people spread over a region enclosing several large cities. This project is intended at a complete reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk meteoroid.

In a preliminary attempt we use evidence gathered by one camera at the Revolution Square in the city of Chelyabinsk and other videos recorded by witnesses in the close city of Korkino, we calculate the trajectory of the body in the atmosphere and use it to reconstruct the orbit in space of the meteoroid previous to the violent encounter with our planet. In order to account for the uncertainties implicit in the determination of the trajectory of the body in the atmosphere, we use Monte Carlo methods to calculate the most probable orbital parameters.

We use this result to classify the meteoroid among the near Earth asteroid families finding that the parent body belonged to the Apollo asteroids. Although semimajor axis and inclination of the preliminary orbit computed by us are uncertain, the rest of orbital elements are well constrained in this preliminary reconstruction.

When using any of the material published here please cite:

Zuluaga, J.I. and Ferrin, I. "A preliminary reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid.", ArXiv e-prints, arxiv:1302.5377 February 2013.

This is the latest result:

Virtual exploration of the orbit:

Related papers Zuluaga, J. I., and I. Ferrin 2013. A preliminary reconstruction of the orbit of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid. ArXiv e-prints. [ arXiv | download ] This component is not available in English. Updates SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 2013. A plot showing the evolution of aparent magnitude of the Chelyabinsk Meteoroid as a function of time for the previous 10 days has been produced. See download section. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 2013. The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union released yesterday Saturday February 23 2013 a telegram entitled "TRAJECTORY AND ORBIT OF THE CHELYABINSK SUPERBOLIDE" by Jiri Borovicka, Pavel Spurny, and Lukas Shrbeny, Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Ondrejov, Czech Republic, reporting the precise computation of the atmospheric trajectory and velocity of the superbolide of Chelyabinsk. The complete text of the telegram is available here:  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mpml/message/28136 Although no details have been provided yet by the Czech group, the methods and data used by them are similar to that used by Zuluaga & Ferrin (2013). The resulting orbital elements coincide also with that of the "median" orbit computed by the Colombian Researchers.  Although the result would seem definitive an independent verification of the results as well as a publication of their methods and sources are still required. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 2013. The American Meteoritic Society (AMS) published another preliminary estimation of the orbital elements. Their results are available in this entry: http://www.amsmeteors.org/2013/02/large-daytime-fireball-hits-russia. The elements estimated by them are in pretty correspondence to that published by Zuluaga & Ferrin (2013). A comparative table of both sets of elements are published in the Wikipedia Entry for "2013 Russian Meteor Event". Feb 24, 2013 (14:37)., by webadmin Videos The reconstruction performed here (and shown above) is based originally in the method proposed by Stefen Geen in his blog Ogle Earth. These are the videos used in the reconstruction: Camera across the street in the Central Chelyabinsk Square (Revolution Square)

Did Slow Space Rocks Seed Life on Earth?

ORIGINAL: NationalGeographic

Luna Shyr. National Geographic News

September 28, 2012

New model yields better odds for transfer of organisms among planetary systems.

Planets coalesce and rocky bodies collide in an artist's conception of a young planetary system. Illustration courtesy Lynette Cook, FUSE/NASA

If microorganisms could survive a journey through space inside meteoroids, could life from Earth be transferred to planets in other solar systems—or even vice versa? A new study suggests the possibility is much higher than scientists once thought.

Using computer simulations involving slow-moving rocks, scientists from Princeton University, the University of Arizona, and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) in Spain concluded that Earth could have exchanged rocks trillions of times with planets from other planetary systems during the solar system's infancy.

(Related: "Did Comets Make Life on Earth Possible?")

At the time—several billion years ago—the sun would have been in its native star cluster, with Earth and nearby planetary systems under heavy meteorite bombardment, said study co-author Amaya Moro-Martin, an astrophysicist at CAB.

The research, published in the journal Astrobiology, was presented this week at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid.

Scientists had previously considered the possibility that meteorites could escape from our solar system and land on a terrestrial planet in another system. But they had concluded that the chances were extremely slim because of the speeds of the objects involved.

"Everyone assumed the rocks would be ejected very fast—so fast they couldn't be captured by the next star. They were flying right by," said study leader Edward Belbruno, a Princeton mathematician.

Space Rocks Sneaking Up on Stars

Belbruno, Moro-Martin, and colleagues considered a new scenario: a low-velocity process called weak transfer.

When they factored in much slower speeds of around 100 meters (330 feet) per second, along with other considerations, the researchers found a strong case for lithopanspermia—the idea that biologic material can be spread through pieces of planetary rock hurled into space by collisions and other events. (Also see: "Life Ingredients Found in Superhot Meteorites—A First.")

"Our idea is that, instead of leaving Earth fast, you leave slowly and sort of sneak up on the next star," said Belbruno, who demonstrated the principles of weak transfer in 1991 with a Japanese probe trying to enter the moon's orbit.

In its youth, the solar system would have still been embedded in the sun's native stellar cluster, when the stars were close together and moving very slowly relative to each other. Before the cluster slowly dispersed, the research suggests, a window of opportunity had opened up for lithopanspermia to occur.

Did Life on Earth Come From Other Planets?

Rocks have already intermingled within our solar system: A number of meteorites found on Earth originate from Mars, others from the moon. This new model opens up the possibility of large rock quantities being exchanged between different planetary systems within a star cluster.

Under the weak-transfer scenario, as many as 12 out of 10,000 rocks cast off by our solar system and its closest neighbor in the sun's birth cluster could have been captured by the other. Earlier simulations put the odds at around one in a million.

The model also boosts the odds that life-bearing rocks could seed other worlds under certain conditions.

For one, microorganisms like bacterial spores would have to survive a journey fraught with hazards. "Things like UV radiation and cosmic rays would basically fry the poor guys," Moro-Martin said.

The bigger the rock, however, the better the chances that the life-forms could hide long enough to survive an interstellar journey, she noted. (Related: " Space Poison Helped Start Life on Earth?")

Although life on Earth is largely thought to have originated here, the notion that it could have spread to other worlds via weak transfer leaves open the intriguing, opposite scenario.

"It's possible the reverse process is true—that life on Earth was seeded from other places," Moro-Martin said. "The mechanism operates both ways. Given how many extrasolar planetary systems we know are out there and how diverse they are, this opens a new world of possibilities to dream about."