Meteorite hits Russia, people injured
Posted 15 February 2013 - 02:32 AM
As more facts come in some of the above may be corrected.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 02:38 AM
Posted 15 February 2013 - 03:51 AM
Some reports indicate that the incoming meteorite was intercepted by a quick-response (automatic?) surface to air missile. This needs verification.
In any way: It has happened. A meteorite airburst has hit a populated area. This will hopefully wake some people up. It seems it was extremely close to a regional disaster. If it had happened over Moscow, then imagine the chaos...
Posted 15 February 2013 - 05:42 AM
It seems like the meteor actually just bounces off the atmosphere and zips out in space again (you can see it briefly at the end of the trail as a white spot that moves away from the trail rapidly and disappears).
If so, then it wasn't an airburst explosion, but just a sonic boom and a drizzle of small fragments from a MUCH larger body. Seems that a lot of people just had a very, very lucky day. And I'm not talking about getting a famous video on YouTube, but to be alive at all...
Ouch. Seems this one was a little too close for comfort.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 06:37 AM
InIt seems like the meteor actually just bounces off the atmosphere and zips out in space again (you can see it briefly at the end of the trail as a white spot that moves away from the trail rapidly and disappears).
I am going to guess that what remained did not "zip" back into space but landed dozens of miles away. I believe its velocity was severely lowered during the burst and its altitude was then too low to escape Earth's gravity at that point.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 07:37 AM
Highly doubtful this rock bounced back into space. Intriguing!
Posted 15 February 2013 - 08:57 AM
Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:21 AM
Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:27 AM
This is a great idea, but sadly I think not likely - DA14 is approaching from the southern hemisphere and this struck fairly high in the North.
I wouldn't be quick to dismiss any possibility that this event was related to the asteroid flyby.
However it's an amazing coincidence, two in a day from completely dfferent directions. Prepare for a lot of uninformed media chatter about cosmic conspiracies against us...
Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:28 AM
Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:33 AM
At least, that is one non-experts interpretation, because I had the same thought you did.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 09:54 AM
Tom, another explanation is that it got much lower (closer to observer) than most. Most meteors stay very high and, therefore, go through less atmosphere and are visible for shorter lengths of time.
Yeah, that's probably all it is. Now I just thought about that classic video of the grazer over the Grand Tetons from the 70's, and it moved at an equally "slow" rate. It's probably moving at thousands of miles per hour, but far away.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 01:23 PM
The airburst is estimated to have occurred at 10,000 meters and the mass of the bolide at 10 tons. I've seen speeds ranging from 33,000 to 67,000 miles per hour mentioned.
Apparently, three craters have been found.
Posted 15 February 2013 - 01:32 PM
Thomas, what you're seeing is the meteoroid decelerating to the point that it no longer ionizes the air it passes through.
Another video which seems to support that the meteor just grazed the atmosphere and went out back in space again
Posted 15 February 2013 - 01:36 PM
Posted 15 February 2013 - 01:45 PM