Almost 90 years after his "traces disappeared" - an asteroid named "Albert" was discovered in space. A wonderful story of scientific research
Alex Doron
In the photo: an artist's illustration depicting the operation of a robot spaceship
September 2000
After 89 years - Albert was discovered again: the last one in "The stepchildren of
The solar system", aka the asteroids whose traces have disappeared.
Albert (or in his full name Albert-719), was named after an Austrian baron.
Its existence has been known since the beginning of the century. For the first time - and actually for the first time
The last until recently - the astronomers saw it on October 3, 1911
He was then the second asteroid, after the famous "Eros", to be defined as
which approached the closest distance to the earth.
But on May 6 this year, quite by chance, it was suddenly spotted by telescope users
Old stationed on the summit of Kitt (Peak Kitt), a mountain in the state of Arizona
in the US. Additional weeks of in-depth investigation were required to complete decipherment
the findings.
The astronomers at "Pick-Kit" reported that they noticed a large celestial gram
and rocky, which approached the earth. First they prepared to publish a warning message
From his face - and only later was it determined that this was the "disappearing Albert": the last of the family
Quite a large number of asteroids - once called "tiny planets" -
and other space bodies, which were discovered in the past - but today's researchers were not successful
come back and notice them.
Today it is known that the number of asteroids in space whose position has been defined and identified,
reaches .15,668 among them several "asteroids especially close to the sphere
Country".
Some of these have the potential to cause a dangerous event, because Nativ
Their movement may bring them in the future, to cross the path of the earth's movement -
Or even approach it to a great extent, to the point of collision.
Estimate: about 1000 asteroids are currently close to Earth in their orbit. but
Only 250 of them are considered to have the potential for a catastrophic collision. But it's worth it
Relax, at least temporarily: scientists don't know of any poor asteroid
Now, or in the foreseeable future, the Earth.
"Albert" is quite large in its dimensions: its diameter reaches about 3 km. Route
Its movement is brought to the point closest to us, at a distance of 30 million
km from the earth. Therefore there is no danger in it.
In its orbit, it circles the sun once every 4.27 years: that is, as a sphere
The earth circles the sun 30 times, Albert makes a similar journey only seven times.
The efforts to go back and find comets and asteroids that were discovered in the past and disappeared,
They began immediately after World War II, by the American astronomer
Paul Hargett, of Cincinnati T. At that time only a tenth was known to researchers
of the number of asteroids known today. About 200 were defined as "disappeared",
that "their traces have been lost". The main reason for Tam's disappearance: the equipment they used
The ace tronomes in the past, were not at a level of sophistication and completeness like the one that exists
Today. What's more, they are now also using computer systems.
Hargett, for example, used a primitive computer, during the hours when it was not turned on
For the needs of the soap manufacturer, Proctor & Gamble.
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