Asteroid hit Ural Mountain

Hard to believe it was NOT associated with the fly-by of DA14 today. But NASA said it wasn't.
 
REWahoo said:
I've been holding back on the "I told you so", but it's a real struggle...
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We can only imagine the effort. Especially knowing how modest you are. :)

When I saw this tool I immediately thought of you. Impact: Earth! Very handy for anyone worried about an asteroid hit.
 
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Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying: "Meteors are falling. Those are not meteors, it is Americans testing their new weapon."

Yea Vlad...be afraid, VERY AFRAID! :crazy:
 
Experts said the Russian meteor could have produced much more serious problems in the area hosting nuclear and chemical weapons disposal facilities.

Vladimir Chuprov of Greenpeace Russia said the Russian government has underestimated potential risks of the region. He noted that the meteor struck only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Mayak nuclear storage and disposal facility, which holds dozens of tons of weapons-grade plutonium.

A chemical weapons disposal facility at Shchuchye also contains some 6,000 tons (5,460 metric tons) of nerve agents, including sarin and VX, about 14 percent of the chemical weapons that Russia is committed to destroy.

I've been to both of these facilities and was involved in designing and constructing the Mayak facility. It would not have been good if they'd been hit. The Mayak facility is designed to withstand the impact of an airplane but, I doubt it would withstand a meteor this size.



One of the most popular jokes was that the meteorite was supposed to fall on Dec. 21, 2012 - when many believed the Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world - but was delivered late by Russia's notoriously inefficient postal service.

Now, that's funny! :LOL:
 
What I found impressive was that while the size of this meteor would never be exactly known, its estimate was as low as the size of a refrigerator. Yet, “At our hypermarket in Emanzhelinsk, windows were blown out, the roof shook, there was a strong shock wave,” billionaire Sergey Galitskiy, chief executive officer of OAO Magnit, Russia’s biggest food retailer by value, said on Twitter. “A serious meteorite fell.” About 170,000 square meters (1.8 million square feet) of window glass around town will have to be replaced.

And this is nothing compared to the 1908 Tunguska meteor, which leveled 800 square miles (2,100 square kilometers) of forest in Siberia, while leaving no crater, according to NASA. That meteor was estimated to be 300ft (in diameter?), and caused an air burst with the power of 1000 times the Hiroshima bomb. Being exploded in the air, it left no crater, but leveled the forest underneath.

One thing I found interesting was that the intense radiated heat of large meteor bursts could have caused burn for people within some distance, not unlike that of a nuclear explosion. Tin foil hat wouldn't save you.

"Can't you hear, can't you hear that thunder?
You'd better run, you'd better take cover".
​
Down Under - Men At Work (HQ Audio) - YouTube
 
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If I was to speculate, the events surely do seem like perhaps one big rock broke up into smaller pieces and payed earth a visit.
 
Huston55 said:
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying: "Meteors are falling. Those are not meteors, it is Americans testing their new weapon."

Yea Vlad...be afraid, VERY AFRAID! :crazy:
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Yes, and we would clearly attack Bymfyck, Russia, with such a weapon.
 
As I love to quote song lyrics, even out of context, just as an excuse to link in a song, I was tempted to post the recent 007 movie theme song aptly called "Skyfall" by Adele.

But I will point you to an earlier post here.

Skyfall

This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again
 
NW-Bound said:
As I love to quote song lyrics, even out of context, just as an excuse to link in a song, I was tempted to post the recent 007 movie theme song aptly called "Skyfall" by Adele.

But I will point you to an earlier post here.

Skyfall

This is the end
Hold your breath and count to ten
Feel the earth move and then
Hear my heart burst again
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Best Bond film since the 60's!
 
So many people were injured because they ran to the window or door to see what that flash brighter than the sun was. Then they got hit by the shock wave.

So I guess the lesson is if you see a flash brighter than the sun: duck and cover.

I think it took 3 minutes for the shock waves to arrive after the flash.
 
audreyh1 said:
So I guess the lesson is if you see a flash brighter than the sun: duck and cover.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is, upon seeing a brilliant flash [-]of a nuclear blast[/-] brighter than the sun, the correct procedure is to:
1. Clasp your hands behind your head, interlocking your fingers,
2. Bend over and place your head firmly between your knees, and
3. Kiss your *** goodbye.

But it's been many years since I've seen that civil defense poster... :rolleyes:
 
Tyro said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my recollection is, upon seeing a brilliant flash [-]of a nuclear blast[/-] brighter than the sun, the correct procedure is to:
1. Clasp your hands behind your head, interlocking your fingers,
2. Bend over and place your head firmly between your knees, and
3. Kiss your *** goodbye.

But it's been many years since I've seen that civil defense poster... :rolleyes:
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They might have sprained something in the attempt, but it probably would have saved them from flying glass.
 
A shock wave can travel faster than the speed of sound, but if we just assume the latter, then a 3-minute delay means a distance of 3 x 60 x 1100 ft/s = 198,000 ft or 38 miles.

Indeed, it is estimated that the air burst might be 15 miles above ground, so a 38-mile slant range was reasonable. Yet, the shock wave was powerful after traveling that distance.

They have also revised the estimated size of the meteor to 55 ft, and with a weight of 10,000 tons. Still, it was far smaller than what they can track, meaning they could not see it coming.

Here's what's even scarier! It is estimated that there are 25 million asteroids with a diameter greater than 300 ft, which is a lot larger than this recent meteor. How many of these asteroids are orbiting near the Earth, I could not find out.
 
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