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Recent and innovative research has revealed that Earth is under constant assault from the heavens with 16,000 kg of space material raining down on our planet each year.
A team of scientists from the United Kingdom went to Antarctica to search for meteorites to determine how often Earth is hit by space shells. It turns out it happens all the time, as their calculations revealed that over 16,000 kg of meteorite material with a mass greater than 50 g hits the planet each year.
When smaller material is included, the number skyrockets to a staggering 40 million, but this is primarily made up of fine dust that could do no harm.
Most of the space debris had a mass of between 50g and 10kg when it hit the ground. Larger lumps were much less frequent, but because they could cause serious damage, they weigh heavily on the experts’ minds.
The study follows in the footsteps of a group of researchers in Turkey who claim to have evidence of the earliest credible records of a meteorite killing someone.
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Antarctica is a hotbed for meteorites, largely because they stand out more against the white background. The research team led by Dr. Geoff Evatt, a mathematician at the University of Manchester, combed an area near the Shackleton Range in East Antarctica, and then created a global estimate by creating a mathematical model that explains variations in the latitude.
The model revealed valuable new data to be used in future risk assessments for larger space material hitting Earth. Interestingly, the amount of meteorite impacts at the north and south poles is only about 60 percent of what one would expect at the equator. This explains why long-term contingency facilities, such as the Global Seed Vault, are safer at higher latitudes.
The research was published in the journal Geology this week.
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