New Scientist | AN asteroid exploded over Indonesia with the force of three Hiroshima bombs - and no one on Earth knew it was coming.The New Scientist website reports the dramatic explosion over South Sulawesi, Indonesia, on October 8 underscores how blind humanity is to the danger of giant space rocks.
NASA estimated the explosion was the equivalent to 50,000 tons of TNT, making it one of the largest asteroid explosions ever observed.
However, this time we were lucky - the blast caused no damage on the ground because it occurred at high altitude, 15 to 20km above Earth's surface.
While the explosion was heard by witnesses in Indonesia and picked up by international nuclear explosion detectors, the asteroid only became visible after it exploded.
Video images of the sky following the event showed a dust trail characteristic of an exploding asteroid, according to the New Scientist.
Researchers believe the asteroid was about 10 metres wide - too small for even our most powerful telescopes to spot.
But Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center, in the US state of Massachusetts, warns even an asteroid of this size could cause a lot of damage on the ground.
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