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Asteroid Launcher, how to simulate an asteroid impact
A new interactive simulator which shows the consequences of the impact of a near-earth asteroid, Asteroid Launcher, became available a few weeks ago. This tool was developed by Neal Agarwal, a self-taught software developer with a passion for creative code writing. The user can choose between different types of asteroids (rocky, metallic, carbonaceous) or comets, and set parameters such as size, impact velocity, fall angle, and position on the earth’s surface. Asteroid Launcher uses Apple Maps for the earth’s cartography, so that one can search for a specific location for the impact, and set the parameters of the simulation with
If you wish to know more about NEO, or more specifically about NEA – asteroids whose orbits bring them close to earth – you can visit the website of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). CNEOS is the main center for studies of NEO worldwide, and is an emanation of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (as can easily be deduced from its web address cneos.jpl.nasa.gov) and of the California Institute of Technology, CALTECH. The website is well structured and easily navigated: it displays a single horizontal menu, formed by eight sections which automatically open their respective drop-down menus:
SpaceWeather.com, where it all started
Are you keen on auroras, and want to know where and how to observe them? Would you like to know in real time what the sun’s activity state is, and what is happening in the magnetosphere, the natural shield that protects us from cosmic rays? Are you fascinated by meteors and fireballs, and are you always keen to search the skies for asteroids passing close to our planet? These, and many more questions on what happens above our heads, are answered for 24 hours each day and 365 days each year on spaceweather.com, probably the most famous and most comprehensive
