It's well known that a large meteorite hitting the Earth would not be good news, as it would cause earthquakes, tsunamis and firestorms.

眾所周知，大型隕石撞擊地球可不是什么好消息，因為它會引發地震，海嘯以及大火。

 

However, scientists have created a new model for predicting the impact of such collisions that shows the devastation wouldn't be anywhere near as severe as previously thought.

然而，科學家們已經建構出了新的模型來預測這種撞擊的影響，結果顯示這種破壞并不是如人們之前所預想的那么嚴重，不是在你附近的任何地方都會發生。

 

Scientists from the University of Munich argue that previous predictions of impact damage assume the Earth is smooth and spherical – but it's actually elliptical with huge peaks and troughs, which would help to diffuse the resulting seismic waves.

來自慕尼黑大學的科學家說，之前對于撞擊破壞性的預測，假設地球是表面平滑的球體——但實際上它是橢圓的，并且地表上都是起伏的波峰和波谷，這將有助于化解撞擊所產生的地震波。

 

Research leader Matthias Meschede said: "After a meteorite impact, seismic waves travel outward across the Earth's surface like after a stone is thrown in water."

研究負責人馬蒂亞斯•梅舍德說：“隕石撞擊后，地震波會通過地球的表面向外擴散，就像是把石頭扔進水里。”

 

"For the Earth, these calculations are usually made using a smooth, perfect sphere model, but we found that the surface features of a planet or a moon have a huge effect on the aftershock a large meteorite will have, so it's extremely important to take those into account."

“對于地球來說，相關運算通常會采用平滑、完美的球體模型，但我們發現行星或者月球的地表特征會對大型隕石撞擊帶來的余震產生重大影響，所以在地球相關運算時把地表特征因素考慮在內是非常重要的。”

 

Mr Meschede's team used their model to produce a fresh simulation of the meteorite crash that wiped out the dinosaurs 65million years ago and caused the huge Chicxulub crater, which can be seen from space.

梅舍德先生帶領的研究團隊運用他們的模型重新模擬了6500萬年前的隕石撞擊，那次隕石撞擊使得恐龍滅絕，并造成了巨大的希克蘇魯伯隕石坑，在遙遠的太空也能看見。

 

It was the equivalent of two million hydrogen bombs going off – yet the Munich team have downplayed its effects, claiming that the tsunamis and earthquakes that resulted were enough to wipe out the dinosaurs, but the shock-waves "that caused them would have been weakened by the planet's landscape".

那次撞擊的力量相當于同時引爆兩百萬顆******——不過慕尼黑研究小組已經淡化其影響，并聲稱，由此引發的海嘯和地震雖然足以毀滅恐龍，但沖擊波已經被地球的地表特征削弱。

 

Mr Meschede added: "Our results go beyond Chicxulub. We can, in principle, now estimate how large a meteorite would have to have been to cause catastrophic events. Our model can be used to estimate the magnitude and effect of other major impacts in Earth's past."

梅舍德先生還補充道：“我們的研究成果不僅用于希克蘇魯伯隕石坑。原則上，我們可以估算隕石撞擊會引發多大程度的災難性事件。我們的模型可以被用于估計地球過去歷史上曾有撞擊的范圍和影響。”

 

Tomorrow an asteroid the size of four football pitches called 2005 YU55 will pass between the Earth and Moon.

明天（11月8日）一顆名為2005 YU55的四個足球場大小的小行星將通過地球和月球之間。

 

If something that size was to slam into the Earth it would cause a 2.5mile-wide crater, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, and if it hit water a 70-foot high tsunami would spread within 60 miles of the crash site.

如果像這樣大小的物體撞擊地球的話，會形成2.5英里寬的隕石坑，引發里氏7.0級地震，如果它撞擊入水，將會有70英尺高的海嘯波及至撞擊點周圍60英里的范圍。