Astronomy GCSE : Week 7
2016–17 course delivered by Think Physics and the Centre for Life
What happens when an asteroid hits the Earth? What if it was a really big one?
This week we looked at PHOs – potentially hazardous objects.
Potentially Hazardous Objects
Web links for Week 7
- NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab is tracking Near Earth Objects.
- The Killer Asteroids website has lots of information about asteroids and asteroid research, and also a number of games, that allow you to save the Earth from asteroids.
- In this film, Astronomer Jay Tate describes how we can track asteroids and how we might deal with them. This will provide useful revision of what we covered in the session.
- The Institute of Physics have also produced an Asteroid spotting game called SimSpace. You can download the game (and the instructions) here (about half-way down the page).
Possibly the most scientifically inaccurate film about asteroids is Armageddon. It’s a pleasingly light action movie in which Bruce Willis plants a nuclear bomb on an asteroid. There’s a rumour that NASA employees have found 168 errors – but it is just a rumour. However, Phil Platt’s bad astronomy website does identify some of the errors if you want to watch the film and then see if you spot the mistakes!
Specification statements for week 7
- Describe the orbits of Potentially Hazardous Objects (PHOs).
- Demonstrate an appreciation of the need to monitor the motion of PHOs.
- Demonstrate an appreciation of the potential consequences of a collision between an impactor and the Earth.
- Describe how astronomers gather evidence of impacts between bodies within the Solar System and consider their effects.
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