Small Asteroid Impact

Small Asteroid Impact it's a free software to compute impact-crater size, magnitude of the earthquake and height of deep oceanic wave of a small asteroid (100-1500 m) that hit the Earth. The asteroid kinetic energy and the value of the Roche limit are also given. The impactor enter the Earth atmosphere at zenith angle zero.

System requirements:

1. Microsoft Windows 98,ME,2K,XP (tested with 2K and XP)
2. RAM (the more the better ...)
3. about 300 KB free disk space for installation

Installation Procedure:

Extract all files from Small_Asteroid_Impact.zip into a folder of your hard disk. Double click on the program to start on the window task bar. The program don't require to update system files in order to run.

Unistallation procedure:

Simply delete the Small Asteroid Impact folder.

Getting help:

In order to compute the impact effect, Small Asteroid Impact needs:

1. Asteroid diameter (meter)
2. Asteroid mean density (g/cm3)
3. Asteroid geocentric velocity (km/s)

The default values are for asteroid 99942 Apophis. Press the button to compute the impact effects. It is possible to change the value of the epicenter distance (default 1000 km) for an oceanic impact. Press to cancel all, press to close the software.

Fig. 2. The Small Asteroid Impact window with the results for 99942 Apophis.

Legal notice:

Small Asteroid Impact is Copyright (c) Albino Carbognani. You may freely download and use the software for non-commercial purposes. Contact the author for permission prior to using the software for other purposes.

Disclaimer:

The author regularly uses the software on several of his computers and firmly believes that the software is without any damaging effect. Nevertheless, the author accepts no responsibility for damages resulting from use of the software and makes no warranty or representation, either express or implied, including but not limited to, any implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. The software is provided "AS IS" and the author does not assume or accept any risk by its use.

Bibliography:

1. J. Hills, P. Goda, "The Fragmentation of Small Asteroids in the Atmosphere", The Astronomical Juornal, Vol. 105, 1114-1144 (1993)
2. J. Kennewell, "When Asteroid Meets Earth", Sky and Telescope, 90-92, November 1996

Albino Carbognani - Italy
Web: http://www.fis.unipr.it/~albino
Email: albino@fis.unipr.it