The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), a NASA-funded asteroid warning system, has increased its scope to include the whole night sky to identify dangerous asteroids speeding towards the Earth.
It was after ATLAS joined an array of world-class telescopes at SAAO's Sutherland Observing Station and became part of the worldwide effort to find potentially hazardous asteroids.
Hopefully, these new and enhanced technologies will be sufficient to safeguard and defend Earth.
🌌 Just Look Up! A state-of-the-art asteroid alert system operated by @UHIfA can now scan the entire dark sky every 24 hours for dangerous bodies that could plummet toward Earth ➡️ https://t.co/ZuRRJEmHvK #UHMResearch pic.twitter.com/966a17RhCz
— University of Hawaii at Manoa (@uhmanoa) January 31, 2022
Fans interested in learning more about the ATLAS system may go to NASA's official website.
From left to right: Sutherland ATLAS station during construction in South Africa. Credit: Willie Koorts (SAAO); Chilean engineers and astronomers installing the ATLAS telescope at El Sauce Observatory. Credit: University of Hawaii; Illustration of NASA’s DART spacecraft and the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) LICIACube prior to impact at the Didymos binary system.
ATLAS Asteroid Tracker Upgraded: What to Expect
To solve the problem of unidentified asteroids, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) was finally deployed in 2017.
It is notable for its telescope arrays based on the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IFA).
An asteroid that impacts the Earth can approach from any direction, ATLAS Principal Investigator John Tonry told the Daily Mail. Therefore ATLAS is now all the sky, all the time.
It means the system is always monitoring the environment.
At the moment, it could provide NASA up to three weeks' notice of any approaching asteroids.
It's worth noting that ATLAS just added two additional telescopes on the other side of the planet.
The Sutherland Observing Station in South Africa and the El Sauce Observatory in Chile are home to these telescopes.
Experts factored in the time difference between the telescopes, which means it might be afternoon in Hawai'i and nighttime in Chile and South Africa.
The ATLAS system comprises four telescopes located in four distinct parts of the planet.
According to the Daily Mail, ATLAS can identify asteroids with a diameter of 64 feet and alert NASA within 24 hours.
Be aware that an asteroid of this magnitude can potentially destroy an entire city. As a result, the 24-hour warning might be utilized to evacuate residents at risk.
However, the systems are not yet completely operational.
Experts confess to having supply and telescope manufacturing challenges due to the COVID-19 delays.
The telescopes are now operating, but specialists will need weeks to months to fully calibrate them for optimal sensitivity and dependability.
What ATLAS Can Do
With the new upgrade, the ATLAS telescopes can now image a portion of the sky 100 times wider than the full moon in a single exposure, allowing it to provide a warning 24 hours before a 20-meter diameter asteroid approaches.
Furthermore, Republic World said ATLAS might send a warning three weeks before a 100-meter-wide asteroid capable of widespread harm approaches our planet.
According to scientists, if an asteroid of this size collides with Earth, it might wreak ten times the havoc caused by the volcanic eruption in Tonga in the Pacific Ocean.
So far, the ATLAS system has identified 700 near-Earth asteroids and 66 comets, and it was built to detect objects as close as 3,84,000 kilometers to the Earth.
RELATED ARTICLE: NASA Upgrades To Sentry-II to Track All Hazardous Asteroids, New Version Takes Into Account the Yarkovsky Effect
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