{"id":16329,"date":"2021-10-29T19:05:25","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T17:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/a-tu-per-tu-con-i-neo\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T15:36:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T13:36:15","slug":"face-to-face-with-neo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/face-to-face-with-neo\/","title":{"rendered":"Face to face with NEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you wish to know more about NEO, or more specifically about NEA \u2013 asteroids whose orbits bring them close to earth \u2013 you can visit the website of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies<\/a> (CNEOS). CNEOS is the main center for studies of NEO worldwide, and is an emanation of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (as can easily be deduced from its web address cneos.jpl.nasa.gov<\/a>) and of the California Institute of Technology, CALTECH.
\nThe 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:
\nABOUT | ORBITS | CLOSE APPROACHES | IMPACT RISK | PLANETARY DEFENSE | DISCOVERY STATISTICS | TOOLS | EXTRAS
\nExcept for the last two, each menu starts with an \u201cIntroduction\u201d entry, which presents the subject to unfamiliar users who usually start navigating from the \u201cABOUT\u201d section, with its 3 pages on NEO, CNEOS, and the latter\u2019s scientific program.<\/p>\n

Things get more complicated in the \u201cORBITS\u201d menu, because it directs you to the external site Solar System Dynamics<\/a> (SSD), also by NASA, which has several databases specific for NEO. SSD\u2019s website interface was somewhat outdated until recently, but it was updated on Sept. 27, 2021, and has now being improved in its graphics and navigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCLOSE APPROACHES\u201d is a very interesting section. After the introduction, it presents a page with the list of NEO close approaches<\/a> to earth expected in the coming 2-3 months. It also has an interactive and up-to-date fireball map<\/a>, which shows the explosions caused in the atmosphere by falling meteoroids since 1988, which have been geolocalized by satellites. The size and color of each circle representing a bolide on the map indicates the estimated energy of the impact. The large red circle on Russia is the Chelyabinsk asteroid. Complementing the map is a table listing the dates and times of all reported bolides, their irradiated energy and, when available, additional data such as the altitude and speed of the bolide at its maximum luminosity.<\/p>\n

Things get even more dicey with \u201cIMPACT RISKS\u201d, where we can check out the orbits of objects which can potentially collide with earth in the next 100 years, either for known NEO (\u201cSentry\u201d) or for NEO which are to be confirmed (\u201cScout\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cPLANETARY DEFENSE\u201d is the section describing simulations of possible impact scenarios, and of NEO deviation techniques. The latter could seem realistic to the less attentive readers, which is why the hypothetical and experimental nature of these exercises is particularly emphasized.<\/p>\n

The \u201cDISCOVERY STATISTICS\u201d section is very useful to obtain a general overview of the current situation, because it contains many graphs and tables with NEO statistics as functions of the discovery date (\u201cCumulative Tools\u201d), of size (\u201cby Size\u201d), of observing project (\u201cby Survey\u201d), and relative to NASA\u2019s NEOWISE mission (\u201cNEOWISE\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u201cTOOLS\u201d is similar to the \u201cORBITS\u201d menu, with the addition of an asteroid size estimator and other tools from the SSD<\/a> site, which allow to: estimate the size of a NEO from its absolute magnitude and albedo (i.e. is reflecting power); obtain a list of observable NEO at a given place and time; examine known orbital and physical parameters and \u2013 optionally \u2013 produce an orbit diagram.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the \u201cEXTRA\u201d section returns to a more generalized use, with many interesting internal pages, starting with the almost 200 news items on NEO published to date since 1988. In addition, the FAQ section, a short Glossary, the list of space missions dedicated to NEO, and more, will make even the most inquisitive readers happy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you wish to know more about NEO, or more specifically about NEA \u2013 asteroids whose orbits bring them close to earth \u2013 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\u2019s Jet Propulsion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,257],"tags":[260,261,262],"class_list":["post-16329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-near-earth-objects","category-our-reviews","tag-asteroidi-en","tag-comete-en","tag-neo-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16329"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16333,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16329\/revisions\/16333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sorvegliatispaziali.inaf.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}