Encounters in Human History

• Atmosphere protects us some, but

  • even objects ~1m in size can reach the ground
  • Meteorite damages a building every few years
  • Meteorites > few m, < 20-100 m explode in atmosphere
  • Asteroid explodes in atmosphere with force of ~ 1 Hiroshima bomb each year

• October 9, 1992:

  • Meteorite smashed through rear end of car in Peekskill, NY
  • No one hurt, but Chevy Malibu wasn’t as lucky
  • Peekskill fireball

• Odds of being hit during your lifetime:

  • Without protection, a crude calculation implies odds of being hit by an object like this in a lifetime are roughly 1 in 1 billion

Notes: