Meteorite enters atmosphere over Russia

[CodeRedR51]

From the link:

The arrival of 2012 DA14 was predicted well in advance and was never a threat to the planet. However, Friday began with news from Russia of a space rock – just a few metres across – exploding in Earth’s atmosphere above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia at about 03:15 UTC.

17 meters is a few?

 

[Dan_]

I believe is all about scale, you have NEAs that range from a few meters to many kilometers wide ( there are about 900 of these 1 km plus-sized asteroids as of last september, if I recall correctly ).

Judging by that, 17 meters look just like an ordinary pebble.

 

[Auraxir]

I think the Tsar bomb detonation is one of the most beautiful, yet fearful things I have ever seen. It makes me feel that it is incredible how destructive human-made bombs can be, yet it's so beautiful how incredibly intelligent humans are to create something like this in the first place.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Tsar bomb detonate at 50 megatons, which was about half of the power it was designed for?

Imagine if humanity kept evolving nuclear bombs like this, and the kind of bombs this Earth would have seen to this date.

do you know the Tsar Bomba had the power to vaporize L.A. and its surroundings??

 

[G.T.Ace]

Example:
This map simulates a 500 kT detonation of a nuclear device over New York: http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?lat=40.72422&lng=-73.99610999999999&zm=12&kt=500 You can use different settings and places, but that's a good comparison with the power of the meteor.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Example:
This map simulates a 500 kT detonation of a nuclear device over New York: http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?lat=40.72422&lng=-73.99610999999999&zm=12&kt=500 You can use different settings and places, but that's a good comparison with the power of the meteor.

Damn, that is impressive. Detonating the Tsar bomb would cause a thermal radius that would cover 50-75% of Belgium. That's incredible. That would result in about 7 million people suffering from 3rd degree burns!

 

[PeterJB]

And the whole of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. That's 30 million dead.

 

[Crash]

That's a pretty amazing visual, I put the Tsar Bomba detonation in my city, and I can't believe how far of a blast radius it will have.

 

[Joel]

Wow. Put the Tsar Bomba over Toronto, the entire golden horseshoe would be gone. You're talking 8+ million people affected. Crazy.

 

[PeterJB]

If it went off in my hometown it would nearly reach my uni. 2.5 hours away.

 

[G.T.Ace]

Now add a couple of more zeroes to it and see what a really big asteroid would do.

The impactor had an estimated diameter of 10 km (6.2 mi) and delivered an estimated energy equivalent of 100 teratons of TNT (4.2×1023 J).[21] By contrast, the most powerful man-made explosive device ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba, had a yield of only 57 megatons of TNT (2.4×1017 J),[22] making the Chicxulub impact 2 million times more powerful. Even the most energetic known volcanic eruption, which released approximately 240 gigatons of TNT (1×1021 J) and created the La Garita Caldera,[23] was substantially less powerful than the Chicxulub impact.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicxulub_crater#Impact_specifics

Ba da boom.

 

[DK]

If Dublin were Tsar-Bombed, the effects would almost reach the border with Northern Ireland.

 

[Dennisch]

If Dublin were Chicxulubed (haha lubed by a Chicxu), the effects would leave a crater where the most of Ireland used to be. And the rest of the world turns into Siberia.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

Rename thread: "I know of a bigger explosion." or "let's imagine how much destruction would occur if..."

 

[Gooner SJ]

Example:
This map simulates a 500 kT detonation of a nuclear device over New York: http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/?lat=40.72422&lng=-73.99610999999999&zm=12&kt=500 You can use different settings and places, but that's a good comparison with the power of the meteor.

Man that is scary stuff.

 

[Dennisch]

Meteorite Fragments Found in Icy Urals Lake - Scientists

👍

 

[wfooshee]

You know, the speed of this thing was just impressed upon me today. I saw an airliner cross my sky with a solid, non-fading contrail. I say non-fading just to emphasize that it made a solid white line nearly horizon to horizon while I watched it.

It took nearly 20 minutes to cross my view of the sky!!!!!

That's an airliner at altitude and at speed.

Compare that with that meteor's trail shooting across the sky, at a MUCH higher altitude! Just a few sceonds to cross the field of view!

[Bad pun using Jim Carrey's voice from The Mask]

Smokin'!!!!

 

[Rage Racer]

Another "greetings from space" to Chelyabinsk. Something looking like polar lights appeared above South Ural yesterday night.

Really mysterious glowing in the sky above the location which is pretty far from the North Pole.
A comment on YouTube: "First - a ****ing meteorite, then - glowing clouds, what's gonna be next? A UFO landing?"

Scientists say this is a rare atmospheric phenomenon.

 

[Dan]

Another "greetings from space" to Chelyabinsk. Something looking like polar lights appeared above South Ural yesterday night.

Really mysterious glowing in the sky above the location which is pretty far from the North Pole.
A comment on YouTube: "First - a ****ing meteorite, then - glowing clouds, what's gonna be next? A UFO landing?"

Scientists say this is a rare atmospheric phenomenon.

Clearly a weather balloon.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Just looks like high clouds reflecting the setting sun to me.

 

[niky]

Same here. Not really anything special.

 

[Rage Racer]

This is not a simple sun reflection. This wasn't seen for ages in this area. Otherwise people wouldn't consider it special. I saw this on TV news as well.

 

[wfooshee]

It is a simple sun reflection. Those clouds are miles higher than the others, as is plain from the fact that they're cirrus clouds. They could be 4,000 meters higher than the dark clouds. They're still in full sunlight at their height, since the horizon at that altitude is miles an miles farther away than the horizon at ground level. The sun is still above the horizon when seen from that height.

It happens all the time. Not every day, but quite often.

 

[PeterJB]

I believe those are actually noctilucent clouds, only visible in twilight due to their extreme altitude.

 

[wfooshee]

Didn't think of that, but you're probably right. Even higher than cirrus, but like I was saying, they're in full sun when the lower stuff is dark. Pretty much a summer polar phenomenon, aren't they? Don't get that much where I am.

 

[Keef]

I believe those are actually noctilucent clouds, only visible in twilight due to their extreme altitude.

The altitude because of the angle required to view them, and the fact that they're so thin. If the sun is at the right angle it glistens off the ice crystals. They're way the hell up there in the atmosphere too.