Meteor strike in Russia

[James the Giant]

Woah, this is amazing! I thought it was a hoax at first but no. Good wake-up call to fund the search for more earth-orbit-crossing asteroids.
Hmm, looks like some people have been critically injured... my best wishes to all affected.

Sonic boom, smashes thousands of windows and sets off car alarms
http://video.news.com.au/2335322022/Met ... mass-panic

The other best video I have found so far.

[Ben]

The invasion has commenced...



James - use the video tag and pop your link in that.
Give it a try and then run for the hills.
kind regards,

Ben

[James the Giant]

Thanks for the tip on embedding, Ben.

Breaking news: Scientist says it's unrelated to the big one coming through tonight, as this one came in from a different direction

[Buckwheat]

About six months ago a meteorite landed about 50 miles from me. I heard a terriffic boom and rumble, went outside and saw a giant streak across the sky. It was amazing to see. No injuries or anything, but it was all over the news, and meteorite hunters from all over the country came to tack down remnants.

[yawares]

Dear Members....Meteor in the video look so scarry...but not as horrible as in THE WAR OF THE WORLD and strange as CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND....But I love love E.T. PHONE HOME







yawares

[chris98e]

Didn't an Astroid his Russia before around 1901. Anyway Russia is pretty luck that the Astroid hit river that was covered in ice rather than a city.

[David2]

Didn't an Astroid his Russia before around 1901. Anyway Russia is pretty luck that the Astroid hit river that was covered in ice rather than a city.

You mean the Tunguska event in 1908:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

It is the largest impact event on or near Earth in recorded history.

[Hundovir]

A I heard a terriffic boom and rumble, went outside and saw a giant streak across the sky. It was amazing to see.

I'll bet it was! Some sort of a deva perhaps? Although maybe in America "streak" doesn't mean the same as it does in Brit slang...

[James the Giant]

I'll bet it was! Some sort of a deva perhaps?

My bets are on a space rock, rather than a magical being from another plane of existence.

[yawares]

Dear Members,

Miami residents took to Twitter to say they saw a fireball. (Meteors are what’s in the sky; meteorites are what you find on the ground.)

“My man was just on the golf course in #Miami & swears he saw a #meteor. Did that happen or is he just messing with me?!” one user tweeted.

“Just witnessed a meteor go down near South Beach. True story!” another added.

“Yeah I wasn’t on acid or anything, I def. saw a meteor fireball thingy in the sky today,” said another user.

Local media(Florida) reported that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Coast Guard said they received calls about a flashing light, with the Coast Guard reporting that they couldn’t find a flare or a boat in distress.

The Florida sighting joins another sighting off the West Coast on Friday night and, of course, the huge meteor that flashed over Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday, creating a shock wave that broke windows and injured hundreds.

The Russian object, the remains of which are now being collected, is thought to be the largest to hit Earth in a century.

About 100 tons of rock and particles as minuscule as a grain of sand hit Earth’s atmosphere and burn up on entry every day, according to NASA. Vehicle-sized meteors that create an “impressive fireball” arrive about once a year.

**********
I wish all meteors carried plenty of exotic beautiful gemstones inside..they can be heavenly gifts from Sakka the king of devas/devis
yawares

[Hundovir]

My bets are on a space rock, rather than a magical being from another plane of existence.

Well, perhaps you're right. But a giant running naked across the sky sounds more like a deva than a space rock to me.

[poto]

We're bombarded with meteors/meteorites every day, yet most harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere. Ones as large as 40cm diameter hit the atmosphere daily. It's just that most of us live near populated areas with smog and light pollution and are unable to see those shooting stars on a regular basis. That and of course, 2/3 of them will go unnoticed over the oceans. The news media has started reporting 'fireballs' and whatnot over various areas that are actually very common events. I find this kind of bizarre, but I've learned not to underestimate the level of stupid in the media.

The event in Russia is probably a once in a century event. Still, asteroids and meteorite impacts are the last great extinction threat that we as a species can actually do something tangible to prevent. I heard the Russians announced they were to build some kind of asteroid defense shield, though I doubt they have the technical capacity and funding to pull off such a feat these days. Building gigaton class nuclear warheads and space-based interceptor missiles fast and accurate enough to catch an asteroid would strain our current level of technology. That and a detection grid wouldn't be cheap. Oh and let us not forget the anti-nuclear crowd would throw a hissy fit if we were to even consider putting nukes in space to protect ourselves.

[Buckwheat]

My bets are on a space rock, rather than a magical being from another plane of existence.

Well, perhaps you're right. But a giant running naked across the sky sounds more like a deva than a space rock to me.

In that case, I would have used "streaker". It was of the space rock variety, unless it was a deva in disguise.