Asteroid explosion over Indonesia

An asteroid that exploded in the Earth’s atmosphere with the energy of three Hiroshima bombs this month.

On 8 October, the rock crashed into the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The blast was heard by monitoring stations 10,000 miles away, according to a report by scientists at the University of Western Ontario.

Scientists are concerned that it was not spotted by any telescopes, and that had it been larger it could have caused a disaster.

The asteroid, estimated to have been around 10 metres (30ft) across, hit the atmosphere at an estimated 45,000mph. The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.

Luckily, due to the height of the explosion – estimated at between 15 and 20 km (nine to 12 miles) above sea level – no damage was caused on the ground.

However, if the object had been slightly larger – 20 to 30 metres (60 to 90ft) across – it could easily have caused extensive damage and loss of life, say researchers.

Very few objects smaller than 100 meters (300ft) across have been spotted and catalogued by astronomers.

A video of the explosion can be seen here: Asteroid Explodes over Bone, Indonesia. The fireball – also called a bolide – created a dusty tail upon entering the atmosphere of the Earth. It is estimated that the asteroid was traveling around 72,000 km/hour (45,000 miles/hour) when it hit the atmosphere. As an asteroid enters the thick Earth atmosphere, it slows down abruptly and heats up due to the process of ablation. If this asteroid were made of metal instead of rock, it would likely have impacted the ground causing a lot of damage. Fortunately for the residents of Bone and the surrounding area, the rock broke up in a large fireball instead. There haven’t been any reports of pieces that have touched down as of yet.

1938 02 01 Banda Sea 8.5

Further information: 1938 Banda Sea earthquake

1976 06 25 Papua 7.1 5,000 1992 12 12 Flores Region 7.8 2,500 2000 06 04 Southern Sumatra 7.9 103 2002 10 10 Western New Guinea 7.6 8 2002 11 02 Northern Sumatera 7.4 3 2003 05 26 Halmahera 7.0 1 2004 01 28 Seram 6.7 2004 02 05 Western New Guinea 7.0 37 2004 02 07 Western New Guinea 7.3 2004 07 25 Southern Sumatra 7.3 2004 11 11 Kepulauan Alor 7.5 34 2004 11 26 Papua 7.1 32 2004 12 26 Sumatra-Andaman Islands 9.3 283,106

Further information: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

2005 01 01 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 6.7 2005 02 19 Sulawesi 6.5 2005 02 26 Simeulue 6.8 2005 03 02 Banda Sea 7.1

Further information: 2005 Banda Sea earthquake

2005 03 28 Northern Sumatra 8.6 1,313

Further information: 2005 Sumatra earthquake

2005 04 10 Kepulauan Mentawai Region 6.7 2005 05 14 Nias Region 6.7 2005 05 19 Nias Region 6.9 2005 07 05 Nias Region 6.7 2005 11 19 Simeulue 6.5 2006 01 27 Banda Sea 7.6

Further information: 2006 Banda Sea earthquake

2006 03 14 Seram 6.7 4 2006 05 16 Nias Region 6.8 2006 05 26 Java 6.3 5,749

Further information: May 2006 Java earthquake

2006 07 17 Java 7.7 730

Further information: July 2006 Java earthquake

2006 07 23 Sulawesi 6.1

Further information: July 2006 Sulawesi earthquake

2006 12 18 North Sumatra 5.8 7 2007 01 21 Molucca Sea 7.5 4 2007 03 06 Sumatra 6.4, 6.3 68

Further information: March 2007 Sumatra earthquakes

2007 08 09 Java 7.5^[2] The quake was located 70 miles (110 km) east-northeast of Jakarta, at a depth of 175 miles (282 km).^[3] 2007 09 12 Sumatra 8.5, 7.9, 7.1 23

Further information: September 2007 Sumatra earthquakes

2008 02 20 Simeulue 7.4 3 2008 02 25 Kepulauan Mentawai Region 7.0, 6.4, 6.6 2008 11 16 Sulawesi 7.5, 5.6 4

Further information: 2008 Sulawesi earthquake

2009 01 04 West Papua 7.6 4

Further information: 2009 Papua earthquake

2009 08 16 Siberut, Mentawai Islands 6.7

Further information: August 2009 Sumatra earthquake

2009 09 02 Java 7.0 15

Further information: 2009 Java earthquake

2009 09 30 Sumatra 7.6

Further information: 2009 Padang earthquake

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