VIDEO: Large meteorite caught on dash cameras in Russia
![still-youtube-potapow-614[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/still-youtube-potapow-6141.jpg?quality=83)
Image from RT video, see below.
People are a little jumpy with news of the close flyby of the asteroid 2012 DA14 tomorrow. This meteor actually hit and destroyed a building. make you wonder is this wasn’t a piece of 2012DA14 that was a fragment that got ejected from the main asteroid by some other deep space collision but was in a similar trajectory out ahead. If so, there may be more incidents like this. It may also be simply coincidence. [UPDATE: NASA has issue a statement on this, see below]
Story from the YouTube description, video follows.
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A series of explosions in the skies of Russia’s Urals region, reportedly caused by a meteor shower, has sparked panic in three major cities. Witnesses said that houses shuddered, windows were blown out and cellphones stopped working.
A bright flash was seen in the Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions, Russia’s Republic of Bashkiria and in northern Kazakhstan.
Lifenews tabloid reported that at least one piece of the fallen object caused damage on the ground in Chelyabinsk. According to preliminary reports, it crashed into a wall near a zinc factory, disrupting the fiber-optic connections of internet providers and mobile operators.
Witnesses said the explosion was so loud that it resembled an earthquake and thunder at the same time, and that there were huge trails of smoke across the sky. Others reported seeing burning objects fall to earth.
Photo from Twitter.com user @TimurKhorev
Police in the Chelyabinsk region are reportedly on high alert, and have enacted the ‘Fortress’ plan in order to protect vital infrastructure.
Office buildings in downtown Chelyabinsk are being evacuated. Injuries were reported at one of the city’s secondary schools, supposedly from smashed windows. No other injuries have been reported so far.
An emergency message published on the website of the Chelyabinsk regional authority urged residents to pick up their children from school and remain at home if possible.
The video suggests it was shot down by the Air Force, that’s now proven false. Word has it that there was an air burst at about 10,000 feet.
Here is another video showing the trail plume, you can hear the sonic boom, car alarms go off, and windows blown out. It is quite something:
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UPDATE: (via NASA’s spaceweather.com)
It is natural to wonder if this event has any connection to today’s record-setting flyby of asteroid 2012 DA14. NASA has issued the following statement:
“The trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object. Information is still being collected about the Russian meteorite and analysis is preliminary at this point. In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14’s trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north.”
RGB
“…Jesus stated, quite clearly, that he would return to usher in the kingdom of god during the lifetime of his listeners:…”
I believe that theologians accept that this is in reference to the transfiguration of Christ which did occur in the presence of some disciples.
The term ‘generation’ is also defined as ‘race’ in the NIV
My belief regarding the return of Christ is taken from his own words “…No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the Father…”
But I get your drift that we as a race whether religious or secular love to predict the imminent demise of ourselves:)
Saturday, Sept. 17, 1966 – I was in the back seat of the parent’s car, driving through the Chicago suburbs, and I saw a huge, bright meteor with long tail from the rear window! Of course, I told my folks, to which my Mom said “SHUT UP, CHARLES!” My dear departed mother….anyway, in the Michigan Great Bend Daily Tribune, Sunday, Sept. 18, 1966, an article was published, in part saying:
Folks, when you are right, you are right! Stick to your guns. I was 11 and knew what I saw.
Gene Selkov says:
February 15, 2013 at 12:39 pm
……
Hi Gene.
Thanks, I thought that too, but I wouldn’t expect a meteorite to be particularly radioactive, unless it is a lump of Uranium-235, which as far as I remember has a half-life of ¾ of a billion years.
My impression is that the ‘radioactivity inspector’ was not very pleased by the presence of the photographer, but I could be wrong (count me skeptic http://www.astro.oma.be/EN/hotnews/index.php )
I made my sister watch the sonic-boom video, she also linked this post to her facebook page.
I try to get her to read you Anthony, but it is tough sledding.
She has bigger fish to fry, keeping her kid on the right track / job security etc.
Here was her take on the video:
“at least they get new windows”.
(she has leaky windows), practical as always 🙂
“If you see a ball of fire heading towards you ….”
… bend over and kiss your arse goodbye …. and remember to record it on your cell phone.
Huh. Corrections offered…
To vukevic:
Why U-235? Here on Earth natural uranium is 0.711% U-235–why should we expect
a meteorite to have a different composition? U-238, of course, has a half-life of
4.2 billion years and thus is quite a bit less radioactive.
To Jennifer:
The spelling is “incidents”, Jennifer.
Asteroids with tiny moons have been observed. I think UnfrozenCavemanMD (see above) is correct in his assumptions that the event over Ural mountains is caused by a small “moon” of the passing asteroid 2012 DA14. I know JPL big shot Paul Chodas does not believe this, but there always has to be a first time event like this to widen our minds about these things.
jorgekafkazar says:
February 15, 2013 at 7:21 am
Don’t be too surprised if there’s another hit in the next few weeks.
I mentioned in the other thread I saw a very bright meteor over Perth about 3 hours ago. I estimate it was about 20 minutes after the asteroid passed and a similar direction as the asteroid path. I assume something in the weak gravitational field of the asteroid.
What’s the basis for your prediction?
RGB: Thank you for answering Jennifer so thoroughly and in such a measured manner.
This fits in nicely with the warmist plan to have us all living in caves. Of course, there will be a severe shortage of suitable caves, so many of us will have to live in trees. Should reduce injuries from flying glass, at least!
RGB: Thank you for answering Jennifer so thoroughly and in such a measured manner.
You are welcome, although (as has been pointed out on the list here) it is pissing into a category 5 hurricane. No negative evidence or lack of positive evidence gets to count for — oops, I almost said “religion” but correctly one’s own religion. For all other religions it counts. For science it counts. Elsewhere in reason it counts. But one can always excuse your own religion or practice “hermeneutics and exegesis” at will to heal all wounds and would all heels.
So when Jesus says he’s coming back in his own lifetime in as direct a quote as is possible in a book that was written by people that never met him long after he (if he ever existed) was dead, that’s easily explained away. But elsewhere, where it says what you need it to say or be proven false in a specific important instance, we can be certain that that’s actually a real quote and means what it says.
I get suckered into it because dichotomous epistemology is a source of much evil in the world today, but ultimately it is as pointless as anything I ever do.
rgb
From YouTube I measured 141seconds between the light and the sound of the explosion (at Chelyabinsk)
The speed of sound( at -10C) is 325m/s —>the distance was 45825m.
At that distance,to explain the damages, I must admit a 150Kt TNT explosion(10 times Hiroshima)
NASA estimate of the speed of the meteorite being 15000m/s,that gives me a mass of 6000 tons,
and a ‘radius’ ~15 m.
NASA advance a” preliminary” mass of 7000 tons.
atleast we survived the real asteroid
The Ghost Of Big Jim Cooley says:
February 15, 2013 at 12:25 am
You have to be a little wary driving behind someone who has a dented boot (tailgate, I think it is to you Americans) as they could suddenly stop on purpose and you ram them from behind.
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When you are merging with traffic in rush hour, start pulling out but watch the eyes of the driver behind you. Soon as he/she looks to see if it is clear for him/her as well slam on your brakes. 9 times out of 10 they will still be looking over their shoulder as they hit you.
Frank Kotler says:
February 15, 2013 at 3:42 pm
This fits in nicely with the warmist plan to have us all living in caves. Of course, there will be a severe shortage of suitable caves, so many of us will have to live in trees. Should reduce injuries from flying glass, at least!
*
However, we can then expect injuries from falling out of trees to increase. 🙂
jorgekafkazar says: February 15, 2013 at 7:21 am: Don’t be too surprised if there’s another hit in the next few weeks.
Philip Bradley says: February 15, 2013 at 3:31 pm: I mentioned in the other thread I saw a very bright meteor over Perth about 3 hours ago. I estimate it was about 20 minutes after the asteroid passed and a similar direction as the asteroid path. I assume something in the weak gravitational field of the asteroid. What’s the basis for your prediction?”
Given a long enough time, gravity may cause loose clusters of objects to form. Or a single object may break up from ice off-gassing or thermal expansion. The elliptical orbit of this cluster could be sufficiently precise to permit multiple strikes over a relatively short interval. A lot depends on the relative orbits of Earth and the cluster. Fortunately, the worst orbits have been swept clean a long time ago, and we should be in the clear in a day or two. We’re lucky to have a moon to speed the process.
What do you think of the notion that the Russian bolide was two ojbects?
If that’s what the Mayan doomsayers were on about, they’re a tad late..
RGB
“…So when Jesus says he’s coming back in his own lifetime in as direct a quote as is possible in a book that was written by people that never met him long after he (if he ever existed) was dead, that’s easily explained away….”
I once listened to John Dixon, Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University, Australia, http://johndickson.org/, say that there is not a single mainstream secular tenured historian who does not acknowledge the historical evidence that Jesus Christ lived. He was not saying they believed he was the Son of God, simply that he was a historical figure.
Cheers
It is so obvious how this was definitely caused by global warming. C02 traps heat. Everyone knows that. From the videos, this thing looked very hot to me. Our collective SUV farts sucked this hot object right into the atmosphere to trap it’s heat. The science is settled!
A few years ago, I attended a Conference on Humanism in LA hosted by the Center for Inquiry. In the lunch line, I found myself standing in front of John Dominic Crossan, a leading biblical scholar. Mr. Crossan later received an award from CFI for fostering blah blah dialogue blah blah, and so forth.
But I took the lunch line opportunity to ask Mr. Crossan what the evidence was for the historical Jesus. He said, “Josephus, Tacitus, and the fact that early on people were making of Jesus something he was not.” I replied, “The first is interpolation, the second hearsay, and the third is circular.” Mr. Crossan turned away, and that was the end of the conversation.
So, it doesn’t matter what “mainstream secular tenured historian[s]” say, Michael, the fact is there’s no available direct historical evidence that Jesus is a historical figure. There isn’t a single contemporaneous reference — no documents, no historical writings, nothing — and Paul gives no evidence of knowing anything of the purported events in the life of Jesus.
There’s no worthy historical evidence for Muhammad, either, by the way. Or Moses. Or Abraham. Or Solomon.
Pedric
With respect you are just plain wrong. If you give me a couple of days to contact John Dixon I will provide you with I think 7 (?? – don’t hold me to this but a significantt number) independent historical references to Jesus.
Pedric – This is a fairly forthright, checkable claim by a senior historian here in Australia – doesn’t that give you pause for thought?
Mods where could I post these references – here on this thread even though OT?
Cheers
Looks like it was a grazing shoot to me or did it hit ground somewhere?
Steve Oregon (February 15, 2013 at 9:12 am)
This is very worrying. I have been unable to find any government figures on which areas of the UK are most likely to be hit by meteorites, so clearly they are covering up the information. At a guess, this probably means that they don’t want to panic the people who live in the most likely areas.
According to Wikipedia, the regions with the biggest sky are Montana in the USA and East Anglia in the UK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sky) so it seems likely that these are the most dangerous areas.
Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves? In the 1970’s we had “Protect and Survive”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive) which explained how to survive a nuclear attack by hiding under a table with a white sheet over it.
Why isn’t the government giving similar advice about meteor attacks? Do you think a white sheet would help?
vukcevic says:
February 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Russian meteorite ice crater.
Any expert comments on what is the instrument, protective white suit?
http://www.vukcevic.talktalk.net/RusMet.htm
taken from crater impact image
http://content.izvestia.ru/media/3/news/2013/02/545032/DSC00622.JPG
vuk, the more I look at the videos, the more I think it was a grazing shoot. One does not see it dispersing, exploding, but one can see it dimming up and disappearing.
The impact crater is either not related or maybe small pieces broken off at the moment of max luminosity when the meteorite hit the denser atmosphere and rebounced back to space.
Of course … arm-chair theory by looking at internet videos…
And now thinking aloud – this explains very well the Tunguska case, as being similar to this one, only a bigger grazing bullet, the max luminosity and bang (explosion) being similar to this one but the meteorite itself continued back in space – this is why almost no debris, no craters were found on the ground.
I stand corrected. It is now evident from the video that the Russian meteor event is completely unrelated to the 2012DA14 close pass. The Russian meteor is seen in the video moving from left to right in front of the rising sun in the Southeast. This gives the meteor a trajectory that is roughly Northeast to Southwest, while the 2012DA14 trajectory is roughly South to North. The difference in vectors is at least several tens of thousands of kilometers per second.
That this event would occur on the same day as the closest known asteroid passage since sky surveys began is one incredible coincidence!