Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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Heard 10,000 miles away and thought to be 10 meter diameter.
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12939
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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While the derail into policy was tongue in cheek and no harm intended, it seems to have rapidly turned into an invitation for political comment. Therefore, I've removed all the responses that went that direction.
Which was all the responses.
Shall we try again? 
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Under Construction: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13796
Loc: CyberSpace
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The asteroid, estimated to have been around 10 metres (30ft) across, hit the atmosphere at an estimated 45,000mph. The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.
I doubt that... Why would the rock explode.. 
Must of been a Chinese Satellite..... 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
Celestron 2x Barlow Lens
Orion Collimation Eyepiece
Rigel Quick Finder
Assorted Bino's 
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12939
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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You've obviously never used the wrong kind of rock to line a campfire. 
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Under Construction: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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astrotrf
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/30/07
Posts: 698
Loc: Rodeo, NM
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Quote:
The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.
I doubt that... Why would the rock explode..
Consider the temperature of the interior of the rock after billions of years in deep space, and then consider heating the exterior of the rock to thousands of degrees in mere seconds. There's a tremendous thermal expansion differential there, not to mention the sudden and violent expansion of any trapped volatiles.
Now whether "explode" is the correct term for this breakup, I dunno; but I can see that the rock could quite forcefully come apart.
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Terry (astrotrf)
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16228
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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It is too bad that this was not mentioned on our local news especially since it could happen anywhere on the Earth.
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Ted
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matt
Vendor (Scopemania)
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 10360
Loc: Chaville, France
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These things are not uncommon. It's interesting for us, but I don't see how it can be interesting for the mainstream media.
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Matt
CI700 mount with various scopes on top.
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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Quote:
These things are not uncommon. It's interesting for us, but I don't see how it can be interesting for the mainstream media.
That whole possible death and destruction thing is good for ratings though.
"Mile wide asteroid to strike Cleveland at 10PM.....Details at 11" 
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matt
Vendor (Scopemania)
Reged: 07/28/03
Posts: 10360
Loc: Chaville, France
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"... your football team stinks anyway..."
My point was that it's the kind of info which is irrelevant without the background. You either get the public into "who cares?" mode or into "the end is nigh" mode. Not scientifically productive in any case.
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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We have a team?
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16228
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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That is a naughty smiley.
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Ted
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12939
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Yep. Let's try to gently guide this one back on track, before it explodes over Ohio! 
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
"S.O.E." (Sauron's Other Eye), with 16" Royce conical mirror: A permanent work in progress.
10" Homebuilt dob, old Coulter mirror
Under Construction: The "Eye of Sauron" Observatory!
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star drop
Guilty as Charged
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 16228
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Has anyone heard if any pieces were collected? The dust trail must have settled somewhere.
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Ted
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StarWars
Postmaster
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 13796
Loc: CyberSpace
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Quote:
Quote:
The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.
I doubt that... Why would the rock explode..
Consider the temperature of the interior of the rock after billions of years in deep space, and then consider heating the exterior of the rock to thousands of degrees in mere seconds. There's a tremendous thermal expansion differential there, not to mention the sudden and violent expansion of any trapped volatiles.
Now whether "explode" is the correct term for this breakup, I dunno; but I can see that the rock could quite forcefully come apart.
I guess the thermal differential along with hitting the heavy atmosphere would cause the rock to break up.. 
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Sony Digital Media player..
MX 460 earbuds
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ebusinesstutor
sage
Reged: 07/01/09
Posts: 459
Loc: Nanaimo, BC, Canada
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I find it interesting that they can explode rather than hitting the ground.
I had heard that it was one of the most likely theories of the Tunguska explosion and I have watched some documentaries on that.
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Garland Coulson
Orion XT8i Dob & Celestron 80 ED on a Vixen Porta Mount Mini
Baader Hyperion 8-24mm Click Zoom & Siebert Observatory 36mm
Siebert Black Knight Binoviewers
SkyWatcher Observing Chair
Celestron Skymaster 15x70mm binos
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Jack Tripper
sage
Reged: 05/10/09
Posts: 342
Loc: Canada
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Nice article. That was a nice little reminder that nature can have it's way with us at any time. We wouldn't even know what hit us.
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Celestron CPC 1100 
Denkmeier S2 Power Filter Switch Diagonal (.66x Reducer, 2x Barlow)
Ethos 17mm, Baader Scopos 30mm
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Achernar
Postmaster
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 5024
Loc: Mobile, Alabama, USA
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Aerodynamic forces are what cause smaller asteroids to explode. When something that is stony the size of a house hits the atmosphere at 50 times the speed of sound, the air cannot get out the way fast enough and a very intense shock wave ahead of the object is formed. The sudden compression of air heats it to temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees, and radiant heat from that melts and vaporizes the surface of the incoming impactor. Meanwhile behind the object is a vacuum, and the deeper the object falls into the atmosphere the greater the pressure created upon it, as though it's in a vise. As it descends the shock wave and drag increasingly act to slow it down which increase both the thermal effects and pressure on the object. Eventually the forces become so great on the impactor it shatters into countless pieces. This explosion mostly vaporizes the incoming object, creating a fireball, thermal pulse and shock wave that can destroy a city if the event occurs a few miles above the ground. It will also drop hundreds or thousands of pieces of rock and metal that survive the shattering of the parent object, and I would be very interested to see if any fragments from this air-burst are recovered. There was one not too long ago that caused a lot of panic in Egypt and Sudan, and left behind a lot of small and very unusual black meteorites.
Taras
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15-inch F/4.5 Dob under construction
10-inch F/4.5 Discovery Dob
6-inch F/8 Homebuilt Dob
4 1/4-inch F/4 Homebuilt reflector
A whole bunch of eyepieces, filters and other accessories....
Two curious cats
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microbes
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/12/04
Posts: 1216
Loc: Romulus, Sector 12
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Quote:
You've obviously never used the wrong kind of rock to line a campfire.
Yeah. Never ever use slate that has been in the bottom of a stream bed for the last 1000 years to line a fire pit. 
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Dirt Cheap Astronomy
Voyager 114X900 Newt EQ2 * Sky Chief 60X700 EQ1 * Cometron 62X300 EQ1
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Books, Barlows, Eyepieces, Camera Adaptors & Other Esoteric Junk.
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RonBurgundy
sage
Reged: 06/16/09
Posts: 252
Loc: Philadelphia
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Quote:
Quote:
You've obviously never used the wrong kind of rock to line a campfire.
Yeah. Never ever use slate that has been in the bottom of a stream bed for the last 1000 years to line a fire pit.
Yeah..... Steam could be quite explosive! 
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Kipp Ginsburg
8" LX200-ACF
Orion 120mm F/5.0 Piggybacked Refractor
Meade UWA Set [4.7mm-30mm]
DSI-II
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