Meteorite falls in Chelyabinsk, Russia

Cienciano

Some great footage here from 2 camera angles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8QjaAPrxvQ

Jonny7

Was the recently found 2012 asteroid breaking up or something separate?

chucknorris

shedweller

^^^^^^^
That is mental!

Rasmus

Ok newbie question here and pardon my ignorance. Can astronomers predict every meteor? Seems like a big enough one they missed here.

shedweller

Rasmus wrote: »

Ok newbie question here and pardon my ignorance. Can astronomers predict every meteor? Seems like a big enough one they missed here.

They can to a point. Where that point is, i'm not sure.
I've heard reports it was shot at with a missile. Sounds crazy but nothing would surprise me any more.
I think theres a zinc factory badly damaged too, but it could be unrelated.
At some stage i'll be able to give a definite answer!!

shedweller

Im on the phone so heres a link mentioning a missile strike:http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_15/400-injured-by-meteorite-debris-in-Russia/

Rasmus

shedweller wrote: »

They can to a point. Where that point is, i'm not sure.
I've heard reports it was shot at with a missile. Sounds crazy but nothing would surprise me any more.
I think theres a zinc factory badly damaged too, but it could be unrelated.
At some stage i'll be able to give a definite answer!!

I read about the missle strike but reports from that Russian 'ministry official' are unconfirmed.
I saw a picture if a large building wrecked with billowing smoke, but maybe it was already in pieces and the impact of a burning rock wad incidental.

shedweller

Some are saying it mighthave been the shockwave that damaged the building. I reckon something physically hit it because there were no other buildings damaged much apart from windows.

chucknorris

Rasmus wrote: »

I read about the missle strike but reports from that Russian 'ministry official' are unconfirmed.
I saw a picture if a large building wrecked with billowing smoke, but maybe it was already in pieces and the impact of a burning rock wad incidental.

Not a chance a rocket would intercept a Meteor

chucknorris

shedweller wrote: »

Some are saying it mighthave been the shockwave that damaged the building. I reckon something physically hit it because there were no other buildings damaged much apart from windows.

Meteors explode above the ground as it did in Siberia nearly 100 years ago.

crushproof

Some great videos on Youtube of the meteor, the blast noise from the shockwave is unreal!

Would love to see a meteor of that size someday.

Rasmus

chucknorris wrote: »

Not a chance a rocket would intercept a Meteor

No, the strike is BS, simple sensationalism from the street.

chucknorris

Rasmus wrote: »

No, the strike is BS, simple sensationalism from the street.

Indeed. You cannot intercept what you cannot see coming and what is going at a speed way beyond any missile. One of the videos on youtube show the trail die and the rock continue

Gambas

chucknorris wrote: »

Meteors explode above the ground as it did in Siberia nearly 100 years ago.

Kinda. The friction from the atmosphere starts tearing them apart, but the real damage is caused on impact.

ZeRoY

this one is much better (HD):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Omh7_I8vI

kingtiger

Another few

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yj8tfuQ1i8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1IGK9GdCmU

sesswhat

shedweller wrote: »

Some are saying it mighthave been the shockwave that damaged the building. I reckon something physically hit it because there were no other buildings damaged much apart from windows.

If the shockwave broke windows, I'd say it's quite possible that the roof of the factory simply collapsed.

ZeRoY

chucknorris wrote: »

Not a chance a rocket would intercept a Meteor

Cant see why not. Why would the meteorite suddenly explode mid air otherwise?

ZeRoY

sesswhat wrote: »

If the shockwave broke windows, I'd say it's quite possible that the roof of the factory simply collapsed.

Shock-wave and debris done the damage according to many reports summarized here:

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_15/400-injured-by-meteorite-debris-in-Russia/

Myrddin

ZeRoY wrote: »

Cant see why not and I would believe that version here too. Why would the meteorite suddenly explode mid air otherwise?

Check out the Tunguska Incident

ZeRoY

EnterNow wrote: »

Check out the Tunguska Incident

And? You dont know, I dont know. All speculation so far.

chucknorris

ZeRoY wrote: »

Cant see why not. Why would the meteorite suddenly explode mid air otherwise?

Because it was an air burst. I would go as far as to say a Missile intercepting an unknown Meteor as practically impossible. Perhaps if you had warning or a very large one, maybe, but even then - maybe.

Have a read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Myrddin

ZeRoY wrote: »

And? You dont know, I dont know. All speculation so far.

You wanted to know why a meteorite would explode in mid air, I told you to tread about an incident that happened that explains it can & does happen.

Whats the speculation, that this meteor was shot down? It'd be like shooting a bowling ball with a water pistol. Any missile with enough power to destroy the meteor would have made a very different video

ZeRoY

chucknorris wrote: »

Because it was an air burst. I would go as far as to say a Missile intercepting an unknown Meteor as practically impossible. Perhaps if you had warning or a very large one, maybe, but even then - maybe.

Have a read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

The report are talking about shooting the meteorite 20km - what you see would be AFTER that interception happened.

Rhys Essien

According to Sergey Smirnov from Pulkova Observatory,there is a high chance that another meteor could enter the Earths atmosphere in the next few hours.

The one that broke up was probably of Iron nature and about 1 metre in diameter.

There is supposed to be a strong smell of gun powder in the air.

IrishHomer

It was fascinating watching sky news at 9am it was main story.

ZeRoY

chucknorris wrote: »

Because it was an air burst.

Oh so now the speculation are gone, IT WAS. Thanks Professor.

Myrddin

ZeRoY wrote: »

Oh so now the speculation are gone, IT WAS. Thanks Professor.

I suppose in 1908 it was a missile strike as well then?

OrgasmicBaz

All this would of been avoided if Bruce Willis had not of been promoting his new Die Hard film :pac:

ZeRoY

EnterNow wrote: »

I suppose in 1908 it was a missile strike as well then?

That air burst could still be there, what I'm reading is that they would have shot down that thing before the video we all watched.

Rhys Essien

Could there be a chance that this meteor is part of a "debris cloud" coming with the asteroid this evening??

ZeRoY

Rhys Essien wrote: »

Could there be a chance that this meteor is part of a "debris cloud" coming with the asteroid this evening??

I'd say it would have been publicise if that was the case?

More info coming in steadily here:

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

Tomk1

Originally Posted by chucknorris
Meteors explode above the ground as it did in Siberia nearly 100 years ago.

I prefer giving credit to Tesla for that one.

Gambas wrote: »

Kinda. The friction from the atmosphere starts tearing them apart, but the real damage is caused on impact.

Meteors, comets, Near-Earth Asteroid ?
Some comets have been found to be largly ice, embobied in a hard dust-crust, if the shell burns up then it disintigrates. Friction heating of gas & ice repiadly to high temperatures would result in an explosion (not hollywood explosion). So can have no ground impact.

Lets hope this doesn't start another religion as it did in 312AD
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3013146.stm

Rhys Essien

ZeRoY wrote: »

That air burst could still be there, what I'm reading is that they would have shot down that thing before the video we all watched.

The thing is,could a missile actually track something coming in at ~18,000mph?.

sink

ZeRoY wrote: »

Oh so now the speculation are gone, IT WAS. Thanks Professor.

Meteors travel at an average speed of 20 km/s or 72,000 kph the fastest missiles go only around 15,000 kph. There is simply no way to catch one.

uck51js9zml2yt

sink wrote: »

Meteors travel at an average speed of 20 km/s or 72,000 kph the fastest missiles go only around 15,000 kph. There is simply no way to catch one.

I see it happening all the time in the movies so it must be possible:)

ZeRoY

sink wrote: »

Meteors travel at an average speed of 20 km/s or 72,000 kph the fastest missiles go only around 15,000 kph. There is simply no way to catch one.

I don't know, I'm no scientist nor military specialist! Here's a comment i found on RT on the missile hypothesis:

It appears a tactical anti-missile defense system was activated by it's computer software controls and blasted the meteor while it was streaking past at Mach 20+ breaking the heavy meteor into three parts and resulting in a huge explosion and a very bright flash of light.

It wouldn't be uncommon for Russia to have select tactical nuclear tipped anti-missile defense battery's along with their S-400,S-500 regional defenses aimed to accomplish nearly the same task.

While large Meteors can and do light up the sky, the numerious video clips show a extremely bright flash which could have come from a tactical nuke explosion from one of Russia's heavy duty anti-missile battery's.

A small tactical nuke at that altitude would likely generate a small EMP pulse shutting down lights temporarily yet it appeared video cameras were still operating just fine. It would take a large conventional anti-missile warhead to split up a meteor traveling at Mach 20+ which is the only other alternative as the likely hood the Russian air defense computers launched a countermeasure missile or missiles is almost certain.

ZeRoY

sink wrote: »

Meteors travel at an average speed of 20 km/s or 72,000 kph the fastest missiles go only around 15,000 kph. There is simply no way to catch one.

By the way, my simple logic dictates that speed would play no role since you would go head to head, not chasing it up!

Rhys Essien

6 metre crater now found by the military.

sink

ZeRoY wrote: »

By the way, my simple logic dictates that speed would play no role since you would go head to head, not chasing it up!

Unless you knew it's exact trajectory before it even enters the atmosphere there is no way to get a missile in it's path on time, it's simply too quick.

If Russia does have a nuclear tipped missile shield, which is a bit far fetched in itself; then it is designed to intercept ICBM's which travel at fractions of the speed of meteors, outside of a Hollywood it's impossible.

youtube!

Is it not an amazing fact in itself that this is the first time that I am aware that people have actually been injured by a space rock? Surely that alone is a wake up call!

Grahamb23

Apparently there is another one on the way and they are not sure where its going to hit. Can be seen in the sky from around 10:30 am gmt

ZeRoY

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Apparently there is another one on the way and they are not sure where its going to hit. Can be seen in the sky from around 10:30 am gmt

Sources?

Few RT updates:

10:48 GMT: Russian military discovers 6-meter crater from Urals meteorite.
10:44 GMT: The meteorite weighed 10 tons before it entered Earth’s atmosphere, the Russian Academy of Science said.
10:43 GMT: Before falling to earth, the meteorite exploded nine times, starting at an altitude of 55 kilometers, Lifenews reported quoting a source in Emergencies Ministry.

Creasy_bear

Haven't NASA landed a space probe onto a meteor in space. That meteor was travelling at 80,000kph. Surely they could hit it with a missile?

chucknorris

Creasy_bear wrote: »

Haven't NASA landed a space probe onto a meteor in space. That meteor was travelling at 80,000kph. Surely they could hit it with a missile?

I think it's face palm time.

youtube!

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Apparently there is another one on the way and they are not sure where its going to hit. Can be seen in the sky from around 10:30 am gmt

source ??

Grahamb23

youtube! wrote: »

source ??

Ray Darcy show.

How far has the Earth moved through space since that last meteor roughly? I don't think another meteor now would be related.

youtube!

Grahamb23 wrote: »

Ray Darcy show.

Dunno if your joking but if you are not you say 10.30 am that passed an hour ago.

Grahamb23

youtube! wrote: »

Dunno if your joking but if you are not you say 10.30 am that passed an hour ago.

You should have been looking out the window then....;)