![]() ![]() The film depicts the attempts to prepare for and destroy a 7-mile (11 km) wide comet set to collide with Earth and cause a mass extinction.ĭeep Impact was released in the same summer as the similarly themed Armageddon, which fared better at the box office, while astronomers described Deep Impact as being more scientifically accurate. It was released by Paramount Pictures in North America and by DreamWorks Pictures internationally on May 8, 1998. Steven Spielberg served as an executive producer of this film. This sequence of factors (size, angle, and impact location) contributed to generating the largest known mass extinction event.Deep Impact is a 1998 American science-fiction disaster film directed by Mimi Leder, written by Bruce Joel Rubin and Michael Tolkin, and starring Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, and Morgan Freeman. This greatly affected the ecosystems of the entire planet. The type of terrain where the impact occurred may also have contributed to the devastating scenario, releasing enormous amounts of gases and particles into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight and causing temperatures to drop. ![]() It had an estimated diameter of 10 km and made its trajectory towards the surface at an angle close to 60 degrees. The asteroid that caused this impact may have been a rocky type, rich in silicon and carbon compounds. Many scientists are still trying to put together the pieces of that puzzle. Let’s look at the largest impacts we know about thus far and their unique situations and consequences.Ĭhicxulub Crater map location (The University of Texas at Austin/Jackson School of Geosciences/Google Maps/)Ĭhicxulub – 66 million years ago, an impact on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico created a crater about 180 km in diameter, wiping out a large number of species on the planet, including dinosaurs. As we know, the impact of large asteroids will have devastating effects no matter where they land. If the asteroid impacts a land mass, in addition to a huge shock wave, massive amounts of particles would be released into the atmosphere, causing serious environmental damage on a global scale and mass extinctions. However, if the asteroid falls into the ocean, gigantic waves could be formed in the vicinity of the impact site, and could reach coastal cities. This leads us to conclude, at first glance, that the possibility of an asteroid impact causing fatalities is very small. Much of our planet is covered by oceans and there are still uninhabited regions on the continents. Because they have a higher likelihood of reaching the surface intact, these types of impacts will result in larger meteorites and more damage.įinally, knowing where the asteroid will impact is very important for estimating damage to humankind. Metallics, another rarer but more dangerous type, have a higher density and are more resistant to passage through the atmosphere. These types are more likely to shatter before reaching the Earth’s surface and the damages will depend on the fragment size. Examining the meteorites that have fallen to Earth, we can see that the vast majority of asteroids that have reached our atmosphere have a rocky composition. The composition and density of an asteroid are factors that should also be considered. Shockwaves, meteorites, tidal waves, explosions and seismic activity all increase dramatically with higher trajectories, as well as the actual impact sight and the creation of a crater. An asteroid can graze the higher, rarefied layers of the Earth’s atmosphere without risk, but higherangled trajectories will increase an asteroid’s potential damage. The entry angle is also an important factor in determining the potential of damage. The power of this shock wave will depend on the mass and speed with which the asteroid hits the Earth, as well as the terrain, which will be discussed later. A huge amount of energy is released in the form of a shock wave. ![]() One of the variables to consider is the amount of kinetic energy that will be transferred to the surface in the event of an asteroid impact. There are other variables that should be considered when estimating the potential damages of an asteroid impact. Many think the only thing to be concerned about when it comes to an asteroid impact with Earth is the size of the asteroid, but this isn’t true. To understand the characteristics of asteroids so we can comprehend their potential impacts.Īsteroid characteristics, trajectory angle, shock wave power and impact terrain are determining factors to evaluate damage and consequences of an asteroid impact. ![]()
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