Thursday, March 26, 2009

Asteroid Strikes Sudan

Last year scientists spotted an asteroid falling to earth. The asteroid was only spotted a day before it struck the Sudanese desert, so the asteroid was not found until now. When the asteroid entered earth's atmosphere it was about 80 tons and the size of a car. The asteroid was broken down by earth's atmosphere and disintegrated about 23 miles over the Sudanese desert. The asteroid's collision with earth released about 1 to 2 kilotons of TNT. Scientists combing the desert in Sudan have found over 280 pieces of asteroid, weighing 10 pounds in total. The asteroid found was of a rare breed known as Ureilites, which are break offs from larger asteroids. The larger mass that the asteroid striking earth was once a member of actually was large enough to have geological processes. This asteroid is significant because scientists can analyze the elements and makeup of it to better understand where asteroids come from; containing some of the most primitive materials left over from our solar system's creation./

3 comments:

  1. 1.Thorough explanation of the article
    2.Summary has all important details
    3.To the point

    1. Could have explained more about the type of comet
    2. Could have given a background of what scientist know already from comets hitting earth from the past

    1. I learned a rare type of comet hit the Sudanese desert last year.

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  2. 1) The article was explained concisely
    2) He gave all the facts and did not forget any details
    3) His summary was not filled with useless information

    1) He does not tell us about previous comet impacts
    2) Information about what can be done to stop comet impacts would be nice

    1) This article taught me of how a comet hit Sudan and there were pieces scattered everywhere.

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  3. 3. He gave a lot of the original information from the article.
    2. It was written well, it was very easy to understand.
    1. He gave a lot of important information.

    2. He could have told us about previous impacts.
    1. He could have said more about the impacts of the comets impact with earth.

    1. I learned that a comet hit Sudan.

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