Meteor shower hits Russia

[KLR Rico]

The universe flicks a grain of sand our way, and everyone freaks out. :D

[Rotorhead]

My coworker is from the area, her relatives described the events. The main thing they noted was if you were outside you could feel the heat wave on your skin almost to a point of burning. Rumble, sound boom, explosion, windows broken, phones immediately dead - only internet. -10 Celsius outside.

 

Must be a terrible experience. Glad I don't live there. It's incredible how much energy can be released from such a relatively small object.

[Invader ZIM]

The universe flicks a grain of sand our way, and everyone freaks out.

 

And over 1,000 injuries, many windows busted, a city of 1 million in awe of what they are reporting to be a mere 20 ft diameter stone exploding at 39,000 feet overhead. Sort of shows how very small and fragile we are I guess. :D

 

Thanks for the info Speed, I was thinking something along the lines of an asteroid getting parts sheared off it from gravitational pull of the earth, causing these smaller stones to head into our atmosphere. But it does seem to be an amazing coincidence, perhaps they will have data on how or where this 20 foot diameter stone came from, would be interesting to see it's orbial path compared with the larger stone passing by.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Invader ZIM

[Speed]

30 km/s? :D That's ~90 Mach.

 

I doubt the 30 km/s number is accurate- 10-20 km/s is more typical. I suppose 30 km/s might be possible (I don't know what the MAXIMUM speed can be, but I'm pretty sure it CAN be higher than 30 km/s - the maximum possible velocity would probably be the escape velocity of the solar system at 1AU + the velocity of Earth around the Sun), but it's likely we'll see this number revised downward.

 

But it does seem to be an amazing coincidence, perhaps they will have data on how or where this 20 foot diameter stone came from, would be interesting to see it's orbial path compared with the larger stone passing by.

 

From what I've read, the orbits weren't even close, as they shouldn't be.

[Invader ZIM]

Yea, both asteroids were going in opposite directions, just an amazing coincidence.

 

http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

RUSSIAN METEOR INJURES HUNDREDS: Ths morning, a meteor exploded in the daytime skies above Chelyabinsk, Russia. According to CNN, hundreds of people were injured, mainly from the glass fragments of windows shattered by shock waves from the explosion. It is natural to wonder if this event has any connection to today's

of asteroid 2012 DA14. NASA has issued the following statement:

"The trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object. Information is still being collected about the Russian meteorite and analysis is preliminary at this point. In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14's trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north."

[NineLine]

What is more amazing is this doesnt happen more often with all the crap floating around in space :)

[Arrowhead]

In Mother Russia, space explores you!

[RIPTIDE]

;1676422']I found this mate while doing a bit of searching...

 

''Many drivers in Russia have video recorders fitted in their cars in case of accidents or disputes with traffic police. Footage from these uploaded to YouTube show the fireball crashing to the ground.''

Thanks mate. I was just wondering really. Lots of different countries have unusual road culture. In Russia it seems dashcams are part of that culture.

[RIPTIDE]

 

This Vladimir chap must have financial interests in Russian Weapon factories or something.. warmonger much??

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, IMO is a creation of the authorities to soak up far right, wingnut votes. He's been at it for over 20 years. It keeps the extreme far right vote invested in an incompetent and already compromised politician.

 

Basically, a lame duck, government controlled version of Nick Griffin.

[Speed]

Looks like there were, in fact, a few pieces that made it to the ground.

 

http://www.rosbalt.ru/federal/2013/02/15/1094880.html

 

This has not been confirmed yet, but it seems reasonable that a few decent-sized chunks could have survived the explosion. According to the article, they should already be analyzing it. Hopefully the Russian authorities allow more access to the scene soon.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Speed

[RIPTIDE]

Looks like there were, in fact, a few pieces that made it to the ground.

 

http://www.rosbalt.ru/federal/2013/02/15/1094880.html

 

This has not been confirmed yet, but it seems reasonable that a few decent-sized chunks could have survived the explosion.

Not sure how it's news still though, Speed. There's pics of a red brick factory on fire since this morning.

 

[Speed]

Not sure how it's news still though, Speed. There's pics of a red brick factory on fire since this morning.

 

 

Why would you think it more likely to have been caused by a direct meteor strike than just something being knocked over?

 

In fact, a meteorite would almost certainly not have caused that. After slowing down to under a few mach or so, they begin to cool rapidly as they fall through the, like, -40 degrees C lower atmosphere. By the time the reach the ground, they may be freezing cold.

 

However, it's possible, for something that breaks up very low, for it to reach the ground at still a fairly high temperature. It is not likely though.

 

So in conclusion, 99.9999% chance that was just something hot being knocked over, or something flammable being knocked into a fire, etc. ESPECIALLY in a place like a brick factory ;)

Edited February 15, 2013 by Speed

[RIPTIDE]

Oh I don't know. Maybe the walls collapsed from shock wave. Looks like an old brick factory built with..... old bricks. :D

[NineLine]

Oh I don't know. Maybe the walls collapsed from shock wave. Looks like an old brick factory built with..... old bricks. :D

 

They said most if not all damage was due to the shock wave which caused seismic activity.

[PatriotCFS]

The universe flicks a grain of sand our way, and everyone freaks out. :D

 

+1 if I could...

[Teknetinium]

+1 if I could...

 

 

There is more stars in the universe then all sand grains on earth :)

[cichlidfan]

There is more stars in the universe then all sand grains on earth :)

 

...and lots of scattered debris floating around in between. ;)

[graywo1fg]

couldnt help but laugh at this picture....

 

 

but just watching those videos, WOW.... quite surreal.

[Pilotasso]

Found the culprit after analysing the footage carefully! ;)

[Speed]

It's "official" now- this was the largest known asteroid airburst since the 1908 Tunguska event:

http://www.space.com/19822-russian-fireball-biggest-explosion-century.html

 

The scientist in this article estimates a diameter of 15 meters, a mass of 7000 tons, and an energy of 300 kilotons of TNT - about 20 "Hiroshima bombs". The above article also gives an estimated airburst altitude of 15-20km, and estimated of velocity of 18km/s - within the 10 km/s to 20 km/s velocities that are typical for these objects.

 

Anyway... I really wouldn't be surprised if there was something larger since 1908 and now. The nuclear monitoring satellites supposedly see a lot of these explosions out over the water or in otherwise uninhabited areas, but I think that much of the data is still classified.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Speed

[leafer]

Found the culprit after analysing the footage carefully! ;)

 

LOL Should have made it young 12-year-old Goku! :D

[Hawk_5]

They could be the ultimate nuclear free weapon of mass destruction of the future!

Just send up a space craft to the asteroid belt for "mining purposes" and send a few nice BIG rocks hurtling at earth at which ever troublesome nation is causing international difficulties. Too small to track and hit without warning!

 

"Hey what a convenient freak of nature that that city got taken out by a meteor air burst".

 

I note that in the news not long ago a company announced plans to mine asteroids. Hmmm. Let the conspiracy theories begin.

[104th_Maverick]

a mass of 7000 tons

 

 

Wow... yesterday they were reporting it to be 10 tons!

 

That escalated quickly!

 

@Pilotasso .. Brilliant mate! :thumbup:

[Rotorhead]

They could be the ultimate nuclear free weapon of mass destruction of the future!

Just send up a space craft to the asteroid belt for "mining purposes" and send a few nice BIG rocks hurtling at earth at which ever troublesome nation is causing international difficulties. Too small to track and hit without warning!

 

"Hey what a convenient freak of nature that that city got taken out by a meteor air burst".

 

I note that in the news not long ago a company announced plans to mine asteroids. Hmmm. Let the conspiracy theories begin.

 

Nice theory, but...

 

How in the world do you plan to alter asteroid's trajectory in a way that it precisely hits one particular city? I'm not expert in that matter, but I highly doubt it's possible.

 

 

Speaking about conspiracy theories, it's funny how many people still have problems accepting that Tunguska explosion had natural causes, no alien spaceships or anything.

 

Now if they see what a piece of rock about 15 meters in diameter can do without even hitting the ground, maybe they should re-consider their beliefs about Tunguska...

[Laurius]

;1677026']

...

That escalated quickly!

...

 

You could not have said it better !! :)

 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/asteroid20130215.html