Giant meteorite fireball hits Russia!

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Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Feb 16, 2013 - 12:49pm PT

I just figured you wanted the exact number. ;-)

High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber

-A race of corn eaters

Feb 16, 2013 - 12:55pm PT

Yeah, that's interesting. I hope the experts get around to talking about this somewhere. Who's to say this Russian meteor wasn't captured by earth and was for some time in an earth orbit instead of a solar orbit? Then an earth orbit decay would explain the "veneer-approach" entry. Right?

For reference, a geostationary orbit equates to an orbital velocity of about 2 miles / sec. (So this meteor's speed was in the ball park.)

mcreel

climber

Barcelona

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:00pm PT

Hey, Reilly, can we get the story on that rockfall photo?

climbski2

Mountain climber

Anchorage AK, Reno NV

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:00pm PT

I'm sure some folks are gathering the data and trying to backtrack the path of the Russian meteorite. Be interesting if they can get enough accurate info to do the job with a good level of certainty.

now on to the most interesting thing I noticed in the NASA statement.

These new estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world

Infrasound stations? hmmm time for google.

----

EDIT

Infrasound monitoring stations, Very cool stuff.

http://www.ctbto.org/verification-regime/monitoring-technologies-how-they-work/infrasound-monitoring/

YosemiteSteve

Trad climber

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 16, 2013 - 01:02pm PT

Keep in mind, even though some of these objects run into the Earth, it's usually the Earth running into them...and winning!

rottingjohnny

Sport climber

mammoth lakes ca

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:04pm PT

" Because they deserve it.." More proof why men are smarter than women and why the Pope will never be a woman...

High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber

-A race of corn eaters

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:09pm PT

For perspective, I thought some of you might enjoy this pic of geostationary satellites...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_orbit

.....

eeyonkee,

Speaking of the Gods, what compassion and foresight on their part!! to give the Earth the exact spin and density needed so Their children could one day have geostationary sats at 22k miles to broadcast our social media around the world. Hallelujah! Imagine the opposite: no rotation, then no geostationary ability. Oh the horror! :)

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:41pm PT

Most people have never heard of the National Reconnaissance Office. They are the ones who handle launching and operating spy satellites. In this time when the cold war is over, I wonder why we keep spending so much money on this. Their budget is huge, a big chunk of the Defense Budget.

I would be shocked if this was not observed by the flock of spy satellites or ground based radar defense system in Russia.

Like all of this good submarine data, this data will probably not see the light of day. If it had happened over the U.S., the data would never be released. Russia might, though. They are actually far more open than we are on some topics now.

This was very cool, though. Never has one happened right over a big city, and debris analysis will provide a lot of super good data.

A lot of tornado strenght analysis comes from after the fact. I know a guy who is a famous structural engineer and has a company that does this research. He can tell a lot from debris and how it damages structural and construction methods.

I'm happy that the Russian's didn't think that this was a nuke strike. I assume that on radar they saw that it was moving too fast to be a warhead.

I need to catch up on the new info today.

I can show you some really cool subsurface astroblemes. They happen and either erode or get covered with sediment. There are a few famous ones that are preserved at great depth and are visible in petroleum subsurface data.

HFCS..a member of the planetary society? What do you do for a living? I thought that I was a Nerd, but I am not in the top ten on ST.

BASE104

Social climber

An Oil Field

Feb 16, 2013 - 01:46pm PT

I'm sure that this data is being crunched at this time, and probably was roughly known within 18 hours of the event.

The asteroid that just missed us is not a further risk. The close approach to Earth has tossed it out into a wild orbit.

I can't wait for the comet that is coming. It might be a big event as it gets close to the sun. It won't be visible for many months like Hale-Bopp was, but it is a sun grazer, and a big one at that.

Norwegian

Trad climber

Pollock Pines, California

Feb 16, 2013 - 03:20pm PT

someone should put a codom
on god, these erratic
money shots splating the good
folks in russia
seems like sloppy reproducineering.

Anastasia

climber

Home

Feb 16, 2013 - 05:06pm PT

I couldn't resist...

LilaBiene

Trad climber

Feb 16, 2013 - 05:56pm PT

This is probably in bad taste, but...

So I just caught the video about the sonic boom, and asked the hubby what the guy exclaimed when he heard it...my husband replied that he didn't know, he wasn't listening. So I repeated what he said (completely missing the subtlety of the exchange), and he looked away, then laughed (like what I thought was, hoo hoo, that's funny, you're trying to imitate something you just heard in Russian) and so I said it again...at which point my husband told me not to say it (blushing, I think) and put his fingers to his lips, nodding towards the muppet.

Oops. Bad mama. Still don't know what he said, but I guess I shouldn't repeat it in polite company...too funny.

monolith

climber

SF bay area

Feb 16, 2013 - 06:51pm PT

dashcam catch meteorite in US too.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/Bright-streak-of-light-reported-over-Calif-4284310.php

climbski2

Mountain climber

Anchorage AK, Reno NV

Feb 16, 2013 - 07:59pm PT

Yeah those are the really bad ones.. but still if this thing had come in at a steeper angle and exploded at a lower altitude it could have leveled that small city instead of the relatively minor damage that did occur.

TGT

Social climber

So Cal

Feb 16, 2013 - 08:44pm PT

Seems like there are a thousand or so glass shard imbedded examples of why the advice given to Lot's wife a few thousand years ago is still best heeded;

See a bright flash in the sky,

Don't look back!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324616604578308010408524202.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

TomCochrane

Trad climber

Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay

Feb 17, 2013 - 12:53pm PT

Russian Fireball Highlights Asteroid Threat, Lawmaker Says

http://www.space.com/19833-russia-meteor-asteroid-threat.html

High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber

-A race of corn eaters

Feb 17, 2013 - 10:43pm PT

Russian scientists say the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes before it entered the Earth's atmosphere, travelling at some 30km (19 miles) per second, before breaking apart 30-50km (20-30 miles) above ground.

However, the US space agency Nasa said the meteor was 17m (55ft) wide and weighed 10,000 tonnes before entering the atmosphere, releasing about 500 kilotons of energy. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 was 12-15 kilotons.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21494963

Amazing discrepancy. Just three magnitudes difference.

YosemiteSteve

Trad climber

Topic Author's Reply - Feb 19, 2013 - 01:44am PT

"Here is what we know so far," says Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "The asteroid was about 17 meters in diameter and weighed approximately 10,000 metric tons. It struck Earth's atmosphere at 40,000 mph (18 km/s) and broke apart about 12 to 15 miles (20 to 25 km) above Earth's surface. The energy of the resulting explosion was in the vicinity of 500 kilotons of TNT."