AstroTalk Episode April 19, 2018

Tsugunska Sized Asteroid, 2018CGE, Just Misses Earth. Wormholes, Wormholes, Wormholes.

2:02pm - 2:59pm

An asteroid similar in size to one that exploded more than 100 years ago in Russia's Tunguska region in Siberia gave Earth a close shave on Sunday (April 15), just one day after astronomers discovered the object. The asteroid, 2018 GE3, made its closest approach to Earth at around 2:41 a.m. EDT , whizzing by at a distance of 119,400 miles (192,000 kilometers), or about half the average distance between Earth and the moon, according to NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). The asteroid, discovered just 1 day before it whizzed past Earth, is .6 times the size of the asteroid that leveled 500,000 acres (2,000 square kilometers) of Siberian forest over Tunguska in 1908. 2018 GE3 is 3 times bigger than the asteroid that caused a lot of damage when it broke up 58 miles from Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. It could have caused a lot of regional damage if it hit Earth. Another asteroid also just nicked Earth in April. Now, lets talk about wormholes. Talking about wormholes seemed to be more in vogue a few decades ago. Wormholes are theoretical constructs, or bridges, that could potentially connect different parts of the universe, so that astronauts or space travelers could theoretically travel very vast distances in a very, very short amount of time. In fact, it would allow faster than light speed travel. Some theorists believe that some type of special exotic matter, is necessary in order to prop open the mouth of the wormhole. Travelers could then theoretically travel through the bridge or portal that the wormholes create, or other distance parts of the universe, or to other universes. A wormhole, by the way, represents one solution to Einstein's equations of General Relativity. Some scientists actually believe that wormholes in our Milky Way are casting shadows that could be spotted. The shadows would be tiny, so scientists are using the Event Horizon Telescope to detect these shadows. Wormholes are thought to cast bigger shadows than black holes. The shadows would also be more distorted for wormholes. wormholes. (Hmmm, heady stuff). The detection of these wormholes could provide an alternative explanation to gravity.