Meteorite explosion over Russia injures hundreds.

[firewalker]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/15/meteorite-explosion-shakes-russian

Alexander.

?

!

[ecat]

Hopefully no serious injuries, for what an amazing sight.

These Russians are so cool about it too. I'd be pointing and shouting and full of excitement.
 

[HLA-27b]

0:25  WTF?
0:26 Is this a bombardment?
0:27 Maybe an exercise ?


I am so glad that the Russians are not trigger hippes....

[firewalker]

Is a vehicle camera standard in Russia?

Alexander.

[AlfBaz]

The one video that's available doesn't make sense. He's showing the trail in the sky, which looks as though its been up there for quite some time, especially if you consider the fact that the trail is not being swept away by strong winds. Then there's a bang and the windows break but the power lines are completly still and then there are more bangs in the distance...

[firewalker]

The shock wave speed is relatively low. It could take up to couple minutes to reach an area. The power lines have an aerodynamic shape (cylinder) and small surface area for the shock wave to have an impact. The secondary explosions could be other pieces exploding or echoed shock wave.

Alexander.

[AlfBaz]

Yeah I guess that's pssible.
Have a look at this other one here. Pay particular attention to what the start of the cloud streak looks like. Each streak starts as a ball then a curly bit. If you llsten closely to the guy filming I think I can hear him say a word that sounds like military

[Balaur]

[MikeK]

Is a vehicle camera standard in Russia?

I wondered the same thing.  I asked the Russian guy I work with and he said that many expensive cars in Russia have this "security cam" feature...so that in cases of accidents they can provide video to the police.

[tom66]

It's apparently due to idiots like this:



Insurance fraud is rife in Russia.  A dash cam provides easy evidence against the claim.

[Mechatrommer]

the first video got deleted why?

[BillyD]

Yes, apparently they don't trust the police, and insurance fraud is a bit problem.
And absolutely anything can happen on the roads there, from a kids buggy trundling across the road in front of you, to getting your roof almost grazed by a low flying helicopter. And these things seem to happen on a daily basis, it's literally jaw dropping. Not sure if I can link directly to it from here but my fav is Claudio Paskuale on youtube, well worth a look - www.youtube.com/user/claudiopaskuale

[Frantone]

I saw this footage when the story broke early this morning (USA) and my impressions are that due to the intense in-atmosphere explosion that this would not have been a meteor (which are primarily rocky bodies, many with solid iron cores) but in fact a very small cometary fragment.  A cometary fragment caused the Tunguska event in 1908, and this one that hit today would have been very small - too small to be seen by ground based telescopes - but comet shards contain immense amounts of energy.

[firewalker]

The first video. Nothing special. Don't know why the user took it down.



Just search for "asteroid explosion Russia" on YouTube.

Alexander.

[firewalker]

I saw this footage when the story broke early this morning (USA) and my impressions are that due to the intense in-atmosphere explosion that this would not have been a meteor (which are primarily rocky bodies, many with solid iron cores) but in fact a very small cometary fragment.  A cometary fragment caused the Tunguska event in 1908, and this one that hit today would have been very small - too small to be seen by ground based telescopes - but comet shards contain immense amounts of energy.

I believe the official  name for that kind of objects is "Bolides" (from the Greek Bolida which means a small object moving really fast. Eg, a bullet).

Alexander.

[MikeK]

I believe the official  name for that kind of objects is "Bolides" (from the Greek Bolida which means a small object moving really fast. Eg, a bullet).

Apparently too fast for someone to stick an Arduino on it.

[Mechatrommer]

woa!. caught live... (4:35)
??
if that thing hit inhabitants fresh, nothing will survive.

[MikeK]

They found three impact sites.  Left quite a small crater.

lake crater:

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

[Mechatrommer]

yup luckily they hit water. if they hit metal or concrete, that will be more fun.

[HLA-27b]

the first video got deleted why?

He was being asked in the comments by the CNN for the rights of the video. Probably sold it to them.

[free_electron]

Yeah I guess that's pssible.
Have a look at this other one here. Pay particular attention to what the start of the cloud streak looks like. Each streak starts as a ball then a curly bit. If you llsten closely to the guy filming I think I can hear him say a word that sounds like military

why are there two parallel trails ?

[G7PSK]

Is there a whole bunch of these objects coming around every 105 years. Perhaps the big one will hit in another 105 years after its orbit gets nudged this time around.

[ecat]

I'd totally forgotten about this until now

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news174.html

... it was foretold. Or may just be co-incidental

[SeanB]

why are there two parallel trails ?

It broke into 2 large parts when it got into denser air and this gave rise to the 2 trails as they slowly diverged. It probably mostly burned up and evaporated as it slowed down.

We are raising our eyes and looking as the fireball bears down, rather like our avian ancestors did 65 million years ago.

[Mechatrommer]

why are there two parallel trails ?

It broke into 2 large parts when it got into denser air and this gave rise to the 2 trails as they slowly diverged. It probably mostly burned up and evaporated as it slowed down.
We are raising our eyes and looking as the fireball bears down, rather like our avian ancestors did 65 million years ago.

in the video i linked, it can be clearly seen 2 entities flying at different velocities. maybe due to their geometry and density, they probably merged back together in the trail. and then later it can be heard several shockwaves, not just two but many smaller shocks, probably suggesting meteors shower?