Small Asteroid nearly hits Russia

[J. J.]

There was a near miss of a meteor over southern Russia; at least 950 people injured by the shock wave.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/world/europe/russia-meteor-shower/index.html

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Pro-tip: that's not an asteroid. Or even an "astroid".

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Well it was an asteroid, now it is a meteorite since it actually did land, tho the landing spot was not in a populated area.  Anyway, we now know that if a big fireball goes thru the sky, stay the Inks away from the windows.

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

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

[J. J.]

Pro-tip: that's not an asteroid. Or even an "astroid".

It was reported as such, though the description is disputed.  It is being variously described as a bolide, meteoroid, and fireball. 

[J. J.]

Well it was an asteroid, now it is a meteorite since it actually did land, tho the landing spot was not in a populated area.  Anyway, we now know that if a big fireball goes thru the sky, stay the Inks away from the windows.

Yes, they found about 5 M hole in the ice on a frozen lake.

[Tender Branson]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

[Tender Branson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0cRHsApzt8

(make sure the volume of your speakers is low ...)

[Nhoj]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

We can always count on Vladimir Zhirinovsky to tell the truth!!

[Lief 🗽]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

[retromike22]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

More like 30 years ago.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

Heard Russians shot it down with some SAMs

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

My dad woke me up this morning telling me that the asteroid killed over 900 people, which sent me into a type of shock, but I could not find any TV coverage so I assumed he was joking until I later heard what happened.

[angus]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

I heard it was actually Governor Christie skydiving, but the visibility was low and they just assumed that it was a dwarf planet out of orbit.

[Simfan34]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

Scary to think about.

[DemPGH]

Devastating, but thankfully not as big as the Tunguska Event of 1908, which blew out over 830 square miles in a 10-megaton blast. Makes you wonder what one of those really, really big ones would do in terms of the damage if it hit. We don't want to know because we don't want to go the way of the dinosaurs. But those huge asteroids are out there between Mars and Jupiter.

[politicallefty]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

That was my first thought as well. The Soviet Union would not have been kind.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Devastating, but thankfully not as big as the Tunguska Event of 1908, which blew out over 830 square miles in a 10-megaton blast. Makes you wonder what one of those really, really big ones would do in terms of the damage if it hit. We don't want to know because we don't want to go the way of the dinosaurs. But those huge asteroids are out there between Mars and Jupiter.

Incidentally, I saw a report that indicated that it's been estimated that the Earth has approximately a 30% chance each century of having a Tunguska scale event.

[DemPGH]

Devastating, but thankfully not as big as the Tunguska Event of 1908, which blew out over 830 square miles in a 10-megaton blast. Makes you wonder what one of those really, really big ones would do in terms of the damage if it hit. We don't want to know because we don't want to go the way of the dinosaurs. But those huge asteroids are out there between Mars and Jupiter.

Incidentally, I saw a report that indicated that it's been estimated that the Earth has approximately a 30% chance each century of having a Tunguska scale event.

Sounds reasonable, and sounds like basic probability. Earth's surface is about 30% land about 70% water plus the Tunguska object (hesitate to call it an asteroid because that's not positively known) was actually technically still in the small range. Thankfully, when it exploded it was over wasteland. Of course really harmlessly small objects and debris are relatively common, which is why we have meteor showers - meteorites are too small to do any damage but are big enough to survive when they hit the ground, and there are collectors as well as geologists who go looking for them. It's kind of fun, actually, to venture out into the desert and see what you can come up with. The carbonaceous variety are exceptionally rare in this age and are quite a find.

The larger the object the less common it is. Now one of the reasons why it's hard to place a crash estimate is that so much of the Earth's surface is water, especially that vast expanse of the southern Pacific. It's hard to tell how many have crashed into the oceans, but none of the large variety or we would have had a lot of problems, obviously. Large asteroid crashes are very, very rare. Like once every 100 million years or so, but as the eons go by these things become less common; still, it is possible, and that's why they've been meticulously cataloguing objects in the sky for at least 25 years or so.

[Enderman]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

More like 30 years ago.

Or fifty years ago. Kennedy was killed, Cuban Missle Crisis, etc.

[muon2]

IT WAS NOT A METEORITE, IT WAS THE AMERUCANS ATTACKING RUSSIA !!!

If this had happened 20 years ago, I would have been vaporized by an ICBM in my sleep.

More like 30 years ago.

Or fifty years ago. Kennedy was killed, Cuban Missle Crisis, etc.

More to the point, if Tunguska happened 50 years later it would have precipitated WWIII. The theory that large asteroid impacts occurred on earth with devastating effects was relatively new then, and wouldn't be confirmed for another 20+ years. We lacked the computers to determine trajectories as quickly as we do today. The political climate in 1958 was as tense and suspicious as one could imagine as Sputnik had been launched the year before, beginning the Space Race. A blast of 10 MT over Siberia would have demanded an immediate and likely fatal response.