The process of shattering asteroids into the Earth's atmosphere

Asteroids flying at 20km / s through the atmosphere will ignite, creating shock waves and large temperatures that destroy homes and people.

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) uses the Pleiades supercomputer to simulate the moment an asteroid burns when exposed to the Earth's atmosphere, Gizmodo reported on June 29. The asteroid is about the same size as the asteroid that exploded in the sky of Chelyabinsk, Russia, damaging about 3,000 houses and injuring more than 1,200 people in 2013.

Image simulating asteroids rushing to Earth.

This is a research program that is part of NASA's Asteroid Threat Assessment Project (ATAP) to help scientists estimate how much asteroid damage is caused when it enters the atmosphere, copper. Time to plan campaigns to minimize damage from asteroids.

The 3D simulation image shows the cross-section of a 20m-wide asteroid plunging into the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 20km / s. The gray and black areas represent the asteroid's rock surface, while the red and orange parts are shockwaves and high temperatures around.

Because asteroids are often asymmetrical in shape, aerodynamic instability causes them to break into pieces. This process comes with a large amount of energy released into the atmosphere.

Asteroids caught fire when they charged into the Earth's atmosphere.(Video: NASA).

Shock waves form when asteroids explode in the air, or fall to land and sea. It causes a lot of damage and injuries to people, such as breaking the internal organs. If the asteroid is large enough to reach the surface of the Earth, it creates fireballs that burn buildings. High temperatures will destroy anyone standing near the place of the collision.