Telescope Reviews: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured

· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt

· Submit a Review / Article

Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums

Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User

You are not logged in. [Login]

Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online
FAQ · Calendar

General Astronomy >> General Observing and Astronomy

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | (show all)

Littlegreenman
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 05/09/05

Loc: Southern California

Meteorite hits Russia, people injured
#5680591 - 02/15/13 02:32 AM

This just in on the 11 PM Pacific Time news: A meteorite appears to break up at 30,000 feet over Russia, about 1,000 miles east of Moscow. At least 100 injuries reported mostly due to broken glass from shock waves? Sonic booms? Video showing from several angles is showing up. Some objects appear to have hit ground. News outlets don't know the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and a meteor shower, but we knew that.

As more facts come in some of the above may be corrected.
LGM

Post Extras:

core
scholastic sledgehammer

Reged: 02/23/08

Loc: Mostly in Norman, OK

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Littlegreenman]
#5680601 - 02/15/13 02:38 AM

fwiw NEO and Space Rocks sub forums have youtube links to various footage ...

Post Extras:

Gus1974
newbie

Reged: 12/22/12

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: core]
#5680636 - 02/15/13 03:23 AM

Scary stuff.

Post Extras:

Astrojensen
Post Laureate

Reged: 10/05/08

Loc: Bornholm, Denmark

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Gus1974]
#5680657 - 02/15/13 03:51 AM

http://rt.com/news/meteorite-crash-urals-chelyabinsk-283/

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...

Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

Post Extras:

Dave Mitsky
Postmaster

Reged: 04/08/02

Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Astrojensen]
#5680678 - 02/15/13 04:44 AM

Here are links to two more articles on the event:

http://www.space.com/19801-possible-meteor-blast-russia.html

http://news.discovery.com/space/asteroids-meteors-meteorites/huge-fireball-ex...

Dave Mitsky

Post Extras:

Dave Mitsky
Postmaster

Reged: 04/08/02

Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Dave Mitsky]
#5680690 - 02/15/13 05:25 AM

Phil Plait's article can be seen at http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/15/breaking_huge_meteor_expl...

Dave Mitsky

Post Extras:

Astrojensen
Post Laureate

Reged: 10/05/08

Loc: Bornholm, Denmark

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Dave Mitsky]
#5680699 - 02/15/13 05:42 AM

In this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZxXYscmgRg

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.

Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

Post Extras:

demiles
sage

Reged: 11/07/06

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Astrojensen]
#5680701 - 02/15/13 05:45 AM

Just watched some of the video, amazing!

Post Extras:

Andy Howie
super member

Reged: 09/10/05

Loc: Paisley, Scotland

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: demiles]
#5680709 - 02/15/13 05:57 AM

20ft crater found.

84 children injured. 112 people hospitalised. Injury count at 550.

Sonic boom captured on vid.........

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b70_1360910617

-14C and no windows is a bad combination

Best wishes to those folk out there.

Post Extras:

Astrojensen
Post Laureate

Reged: 10/05/08

Loc: Bornholm, Denmark

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Andy Howie]
#5680716 - 02/15/13 06:12 AM

Another video which seems to support that the meteor just grazed the atmosphere and went out back in space again: (around 0:52, lefthand screen)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f525TmMSBs0

Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

Post Extras:

Qwickdraw
sage

Reged: 03/03/12

Loc: Ann Arbor, Mi

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Astrojensen]
#5680737 - 02/15/13 06:37 AM

Quote:

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).

Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

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.

Post Extras:

leviathan
super member

Reged: 11/29/11

Loc: Azerbaijan

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Qwickdraw]
#5680752 - 02/15/13 07:04 AM

The most up-to-date videos and photos are on this topic:

http://www.astronomy.ru/forum/index.php/topic,104303.0.html

Thomas, idea of bouncing the atmosphere was also discussed there. But now they say that they've found 6m hole on frozen surface of lake near the city.

Post Extras:

leviathan
super member

Reged: 11/29/11

Loc: Azerbaijan

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: leviathan]
#5680758 - 02/15/13 07:09 AM

On these videos you can watch the effect of shock wave:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_nOaRpF0DJk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=efvP-RRuJuA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qch-pIEgf44#at=10

Post Extras:

swalker
Imaging Editor - Sky & Telescope

Reged: 01/22/07

Loc: 42.9225°N, 71.2242°W

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: leviathan]
#5680783 - 02/15/13 07:37 AM

That's not a meteor crater, that's a burning sinkhole leaking natural gas or methane. A meteor isn't going to leave a burning hole.
Highly doubtful this rock bounced back into space. Intriguing!

Post Extras:

BrooksObs
super member

Reged: 12/08/12

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: swalker]
#5680887 - 02/15/13 08:57 AM

There is nothing in the images posted so far on the Internet to suggest that the reported damage is from an "airburst" event. Actual structural damage, except to one zinc factory is not evident beyond broken windows. Rather, it looks like the damage was generated by a relatively low altitude, very strong, sonic boom. Likewise, the meteor does not terminate in a sudden flash but rather continues onward after a sharp peak in brightness (a point at which the double smoke trail suggests it broke into two major fagments?) for some distance before slowly fading out. Nor is there anything to imply the strike was a grazing event, since all the video so far shows an angle of descent in the track, not near earth paralleling flight.

BrooksObs

Edited by BrooksObs (02/15/13 08:59 AM)

Post Extras:

Achernar
Postmaster

Reged: 02/25/06

Loc: Mobile, Alabama, USA

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Astrojensen]
#5680946 - 02/15/13 09:21 AM

Very unlikely, not with the kind of velocity it came in with. Nuclear missiles don't fly anywhere near that fast, let alone surface to air missiles. Even if one did take off because someone thought a nuclear attack was in progress, it couldn't have intercepted it. Moreover, knowing how many asteroids are loose piles of boulders, gravel and dust, I wouldn't be quick to dismiss any possibility that this event was related to the asteroid flyby. As we have seen back in 1994, a planet can pull a loosely held together object apart, turning it into a shotgun blast of impactors. There is no reason to dismiss out of hand that a similar occurance here on Earth can take place. This was a very close call, this object or objecs nearly took out a city. That can spell really big trouble, if it was mistaken for a nuclear attack.

Taras

Post Extras:

Ravenous
super member

Reged: 11/14/09

Loc: UK

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Achernar]
#5680960 - 02/15/13 09:27 AM

Quote:

I wouldn't be quick to dismiss any possibility that this event was related to the asteroid flyby.

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.

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...

Post Extras:

Tom Polakis
Pooh-Bah

Reged: 12/20/04

Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Littlegreenman]
#5680966 - 02/15/13 09:28 AM

What strikes me from the video from the moving car is that it takes 10 seconds from the time it becomes visible until impact. The longest duration of a meteor (not space junk) that I have ever seen has been several seconds. Is the meteoroid decelerated that much by the earth's atmosphere, or was this one on a trajectory that nearly matched the earth's orbital velocity?

Tom

Post Extras:

bunyon
Carpal Tunnel

Reged: 10/23/10

Loc: Winston-Salem, NC

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: Tom Polakis]
#5680979 - 02/15/13 09:33 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.

At least, that is one non-experts interpretation, because I had the same thought you did.

Post Extras:

CharlesW
sage

Reged: 11/02/12

Loc: Chula Vista & Indio, CA

Re: Meteorite hits Russia, people injured new

[Re: bunyon]
#5681022 - 02/15/13 09:54 AM

USA Today's video. http://usat.ly/14WfaIa

Post Extras:

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | (show all)

Extra information

3 registered and 4 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator: cildarith, droid, tecmage

Print Thread

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      UBBCode is enabled

Thread views: 4292

Jump to

CN Forums

Home

Cloudy Nights LLC
Cloudy Nights Sponsor: Astronomics