December 2018 far-east Russia meteorite, or is it?

Amarock

The Force is Strong With This One
Have you guys seen this video?

Basically author of the clip with his friend went on a fishing-hunting hike into wilderness, when they encountered some kind of newly appeared dam. By the looks of it it seems that something torn apart nearby hill (author suggests that it was a meteorite of some kind) and basically stoppped flow of the river. Local hydroelectric power station report that there was decline of water pressure one week ago. Also local meteorlogists do not confirm any meteorite signings of that time. Some suggested that it could've been a simple landslide, but considering very low temperatures in the area in the middle of the winter, thats seems unlikely.

Keep in mind that in landscapes such as one, objects might seem lesser than they actually are - you can check hight of the forest around for reference. So basically something like this happens overnight, randomly and we'll only know a week later
 
The head of the district in the Khabarovsk Territory commented on the reports of the meteorite
В Хабаровском крае прокомментировали сообщения о метеорите
12/24/2018, 12:49:39 PM
Nina Fedorenko, acting head of the Verkhnebureinsky district in the Khabarovsk Territory, commented on reports of the alleged fall of a meteorite, kp.ru reports.

“It is not yet known whether this is a meteorite or not. The expedition is still heading there, ”she said.
According to her, the area is difficult to reach, located far from settlements.

As Fedorenko clarified, everything happened on the Bureya River. At present, a group from the Amur Region is going downstream, from the opposite side - specialists from the Verkhnebureinsky district. Groups are equipped with dosimeters.

Earlier it was reported that a meteorite weighing 477 kg was found in France, it became the largest such finding in the history of the country. REF: В Хабаровском крае прокомментировали сообщения о метеорите

 
Maybe it was a part from the Ursids meteor shower.
Meteor Activity Outlook for December 22-28, 2018
The radiant (the area of the sky where meteors appear to shoot from) positions and rates listed below are exact for Saturday night/Sunday morning December 22/23. These positions do not change greatly day to day so the listed coordinates may be used during this entire period. Most star atlases (available at science stores and planetariums) will provide maps with grid lines of the celestial coordinates so that you may find out exactly where these positions are located in the sky.

URSIDS
The Ursids (URS) meteor activity begins annually around December 17 and runs for a week plus, until the 25th or 26th. This meteor shower is named for its radiantpoint which is located near the star Beta Ursae Minoris (Kochab) in the constellation Ursa Minor.
 
It could be a meteorite, a landslide, a rocket, or something else.
December 24, 2018
The head of the Verkhnebureinsky district of the Khabarovsk Territory, Alexey Maslov, spoke about a meteorite that blew down the top of a hill (small mountain, ). The collapsed soil blocked the channel of the local river and now the villages may face flooding, but experts believe that there was probably no meteorite.

The acting head of the Verkhnebureinsky district, Nina Fedorenko, told Komsomolskaya Pravda that so far the cause of the incident is unknown. She noted that specialists with dosimeters had already been sent to the site, but the results should not be expected until December 25th.

The area is difficult to access, is far from settlements, right on the river Bureya everything happened. Downstream is a group from the Amur Region, and from the opposite side, our specialists from the Verkhnebureinsky District. The groups are equipped with dosimeters, because it is not clear whether radiation exceeds acceptable levels in that area. Therefore, we only assume that it is a meteorite.

Nina Fedorenko and about. heads of Verkhnebureinsky district

As noted in the “KP”, the overlapping of the river channel is a danger to local villages. In winter, they are connected only by winter roads, which are laid on frozen ponds. One of the “winter roads” is now blocked, in addition, the rise of water can cause flooding of villages.

The locals were the first to report the meteorite, but none of them saw the fall of a celestial body. In addition, enthusiasts could not find his remnants or traces of landing – only the mound on the river bed.

Journalists from Komsomolskaya Pravda showed video from the scene to experts who concluded that there could be no meteorite.

Khabarovsk astronomer Vladimir Moiseev said that when a meteorite falls, there is usually an explosion that would have heard “almost the whole edge.” However, this time none of the residents heard anything.

My colleagues and I discussed the story of a meteorite in the Verkhnebureinsky region and came to the conclusion that most likely the reason for the overlapping of the river is not that. This may well be the consequences of a landslide, or something of artificial origin fell on the mound. For example, part of some rocket.

Vladimir Moiseev Khabarovsk astronomer

The astronomer also noted that earthquakes are usually observed during a fall, but Khabarovsk seismologists did not record anything like that. At the same time, according to Moiseev, the meteorite could land on a gentle trajectory and calmly collide with the ground, but experts can establish this on the spot.

Specialists from the Emergencies Ministry and the Bureiskaya HPP of the Amur Region also left for the place of the blocked riverbed. They believe that there is no threat of flooding yet, but they continue to assess the situation.
 
Maybe it was a part from the Ursids meteor shower.
Meteor Activity Outlook for December 22-28, 2018
Huge green ‘meteorite’ seen falling from sky, but does it explain Bureya River blitzkrieg?
By The Siberian Times reporter 01 January 2019
Startling new footage shows how a ‘mountain moved’, trees were ‘beheaded’, and blocks of river ice ‘flew’ onto the land.
Not in doubt is that there was some epic event at a remote location on the Bureya River in Khabarovsk region in the first half of December.

The river - vital for supplying water to the Bureyskaya hydro power reservoir - was substantially blocked.

A vast hillside collapsed into the river below, ‘as if a mountain had moved’, said one observer.

A new 160-metre high mound visible from space now rises from the river bed.

Hunters who first reached the scene - alerted by a sudden and inexplicable change in the flow of the river - reported ‘hot rocks’ on which they could warm their hands.

Their initial guess was that the mayhem had been caused by a meteorite strike - even though there were no reports of a Chelyabinsk-type space rock hitting the Russian Far East in December.


As we reported previously, this was the view of local Verkhnebureinsky district head Alexey Maslov who said: ‘We are trying to find the explanation for this incident. I insist that it was a meteorite.’

Yet there were no records of a meteorite crashing to earth here at this time.
This theory was in the main rejected by experts - who had not travelled to the site - preferring the explanation of a large landslide possibly triggered by an earthquake.

The first aerial footage - seen here in pictures and a video - shows the mighty scale of the upheaval indicating the extent to which the Bureya is blocked as a result of this event.

The water flow into Bureyskaya has already diminished.

Yet it is the scene at ground level that inspires the most awe in observers.

The colossal size of some of the rocks, ‘as large as a five storey house’

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Some trees are uprooted but others are ‘beheaded’ or ‘yanked apart’ by some stupendous but invisible force.

The roots and lower truck remain in the ground.

The upper trunk and the larch branches are some 30 metres away, torn asunder by a force.

On this snowy but scarred landscape are thick blocks of river ice, too. Yet they are nowhere near the river: this invisible force also somehow moved them "as if they had flown there".

So what was the cause?

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Andrey Dyundin and his track. Pictures: The Siberian Times

In the early hours of 15 December, local businessman Alexey Dyundin and a 52 year old colleague were driving south in a truck from Nizhniy Bestyakh to Amga in neighbouring Yakutia region.

He owns several shops and had collected supplies.

The time was about 1.30am and pair say they witnessed an extraordinary sight.

Yakutia scientist Sergey Fyodorov knows Dyundin and testifies that he is not a man given to exaggeration.

‘Sadly that night we were not using a dashcam,’ the businessman told The Siberian Times. ‘How I wish we were.

'Me and colleague Mikhail were driving a truck with various food supplies for my shops towards Amga and in the general direction of Khabarovsk region.

'The night was clear. It was the sixth or eighth day of the lunar phase, so the Moon did not rise high and the sky was dark.

‘Seconds before 1.30am the whole sky lit up.

‘We saw a huge green-coloured body with a spectacularly bright and very long tail, falling almost vertically at about an 80 degrees angle.’

‘We saw it right in front of us, falling east to south.

‘It all happened within three or four seconds.’


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Andrey Dyundin and his track. Pictures: The Siberian Times

In the early hours of 15 December, local businessman Alexey Dyundin and a 52 year old colleague were driving south in a truck from Nizhniy Bestyakh to Amga in neighbouring Yakutia region.

He owns several shops and had collected supplies.

The time was about 1.30am and pair say they witnessed an extraordinary sight.

Yakutia scientist Sergey Fyodorov knows Dyundin and testifies that he is not a man given to exaggeration.

‘Sadly that night we were not using a dashcam,’ the businessman told The Siberian Times. ‘How I wish we were.

'Me and colleague Mikhail were driving a truck with various food supplies for my shops towards Amga and in the general direction of Khabarovsk region.

'The night was clear. It was the sixth or eighth day of the lunar phase, so the Moon did not rise high and the sky was dark.

‘Seconds before 1.30am the whole sky lit up.

‘We saw a huge green-coloured body with a spectacularly bright and very long tail, falling almost vertically at about an 80 degrees angle.’

‘We saw it right in front of us, falling east to south.

‘It all happened within three or four seconds.’

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Bureyskaya HPP

This is a swathe of Russia that might witness the falling of booster rockets from launches.

But Dyundin knows what this sight looks like, and said: ‘It was definitely not a rocket stage.

‘They falling much more slowly. They do have a glow when they fall, but it's nothing like the bright green glow we saw.

‘The green glow comes when meteorites contain a lot of iron.

‘Our first reaction was, well, hard to publish.

‘We were so stunned we just exclaimed 'What the **** was that?!’ at each other.’

As they drove south, towards Khabarovsk region, ‘we both agreed this must have been a meteorite’.

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Startling new footage shows how a ‘mountain moved’, trees were ‘beheaded’, and blocks of river ice ‘flew’ onto the land

Dyundin returned home, told his wife about it, and got back to the usual routine of his life.

He only thought of it again when he saw a TV report a week later of the Buleya Blitzkrieg.

‘I saw a report on TV about the river dammed in Khabarovsk region,’ he said.

‘I watched the videos, compared the timing and realised this must be the meteorite we saw.’

He called scientist Sergey Fyodorov, who informed The Siberian Times.

The distance the men were from Bureya is some 1,100 kilometres yet while the theory of this meteorite being the cause of the carnage on the river is persuasive, we have discovered it is not supported by satellite images.

Shown here, these space pictures - from European satellite Sentinel - suggest that the changing face of the river came at least three days earlier, by the morning of 12 December.

satellite%201.jpg

Satellite image of the Bureya river site

Images from space appear to show a significant geographical change at this spot comparing date between 9 and 12 December.

This does not discount a meteorite as the cause, but suggests it was not the object seen by the businessman and his friend early on 15 December.

Recent reports also mention that infrared satellite tracking picked up a ‘thermal anomaly’ that preceded the giant landfall.

This indicates seismic activity may have precipitated the large landslide, it is claimed.

However, few details have been given; more may emerge as experts from various disciplines reach and examine the site.

Also heading to the location is a tourist group from neighbouring Amur region which intends to drive over the river ice to the mysterious spot in the first week of January.

'We know these places quite well, so there will be no problem getting there,’ said Vladimir Gutorov, head of the travel company organising the tour.

Meanwhile, a poll of locals asked for views on the cause of the Bureya event.

Some 27% said a meteorite crashing to earth, 40% a landslide - and 33% a UFO attack.
 
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