Huge Meteor Blazes Across Sky Over Russia; Sonic Boom Shatters Windows

[Rick]

Huge Meteor Blazes Across Sky Over Russia; Sonic Boom Shatters Windows

Apparently, at about 09:30 local time, a very big meteor burned up over Chelyabinsk, a city in Russia just east of the Ural mountains, and about 1500 kilometers east of Moscow. The fireball was incredibly bright, rivaling the Sun! There was a pretty big sonic boom from the fireball, which set off car alarms and shattered windows. I'm seeing some reports of many people injured (by shattered glass blown out by the shock wave). I'm also seeing reports that some pieces have fallen to the ground, but again as I write this those are unconfirmed.

More on the Bad Astronomy blog, including several videos...

[Rick]

Meteor shower in central Russia 'injures at least 250'

At least 250 people have been injured after a meteor shower over central Russia blew out windows, interior ministry sources say.

Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed into the Ural region.

Chelyabinsk residents reported shaking ground and car alarms being set off.

More: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

(I suspect some of the reporting's a little more sensational than objective...)

[mickw]

The videos are amazing, the dash-cam drivers seem surprisingly calm - not even F#*#* Me or whatever that is in Russian.

The twin trails looked a bit odd, a bit like shuttle SRBs

[Mike]

There have been some pretty impressive fireball videos about this.

However, have you seen some of the ridiculous reports that the Russian military shot it down?

"According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit at the Urzhumka settlement near Chelyabinsk. A missile salvo reportedly blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers."

[Mike]

This video is the best for the shockwave/shattering glass/car alarms all over the city:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b7mLUIDGqmw

[Tony G]

Lets just hope they have those calulations right for 2012 DA14, and I hope that the DA14 part isn't the postcode that it will hit, as that will be pretty close.

Tony G

[JohnP]

Some amazing footage on sky news http://news.sky.com/ especially the video caught by the bloke driving his car...... amazing..

[Mike]

This site has a good collection of videos.

http://say26.com/meteorite-in-russia-all-videos-in-one-place

[Fay]

Mick I think there could be a few expletives uttered in those clips!


Tony that is soooooo funny!!!!!!!!!

[JonH]

Surely i'm not the only one who is thinking 2012 DA14 and whats going on in Russia must have something to do with each other?....

[Mike]

They can't possibly be related. With the speed at which the Earth and DA14 are moving plus the difference in time these fireballs were seen to DA14's flyby of Earth later today mean these fragments were half a million km ahead of DA14. This object is nowhere near DA14 and looking at the direction it headed in and it's longitude it is on a completely different orbit. It is purely a coincidence.

[JonH]

Got to be honest Mike I didn't look into it all that much.
Quite the coincidence though!

[Rick]

Russia Meteor Not Linked to Asteroid Flyby

Preliminary information indicates that a meteor in Chelyabinsk, Russia, is not related to asteroid 2012 DA14, which is flying by Earth safely today.

The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia. The meteor entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 mph (18 kilometers per second). The impact time was 7:20:26 p.m. PST, or 10:20:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 (3:20:26 UTC on Feb. 15), and the energy released by the impact was in the hundreds of kilotons.

More: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-061

[Rick]

Additional Details on the Large Fireball Event over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013

The large fireball (technically, a "superbolide") observed on the morning of February 15, 2013 in the skies near Chelyabinsk, Russia, was caused by a relatively small asteroid approximately 17 to 20 meters in size, entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speed and a shallow angle. In doing so it released a tremendous amount of energy, fragmented at high altitude, and produced a shower of pieces of various sizes that fell to the ground as meteorites. The fireball was observed not only by video cameras and low frequency infrasound detectors, but also by U.S. Government sensors. As a result, the details of the impact have become clearer. There is no connection between the Russian fireball event and the close approach of asteroid 2012 DA14, which occurred just over 16 hours later.

More: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/fireball_130301.html

[Tony G]

Well I know what I believed happened.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/01/some-think-this-video-shows-a-ufo-came-to-shoot-down-the-russian-meteor-heres-why/



Tony G