Meteorite Explodes Over Russia Injures Hundreds

[Laura]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

_http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/15/3991132/russia-meteorite-explosion-reported

Article with videos;

" Reports from the Russian region of the Ural Mountains suggest that a meteor may have exploded 10,000 meters above the ground this morning. YouTube videos show loud blasts and bright objects falling from the sky, and an emergency official told Reuters that "It was definitely not a plane. We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far." The incident occurred in Chelyabinsk, about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow.

"Preliminary indications are that it was a meteorite rain," said an emergency official speaking to RIA-Novosti. "We have information about a blast at 10,000-meter (32,800-foot) altitude. It is being verified." There are conflicting reports on what happened: an emergency ministry spokeswoman told the Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another account given to Interfax reported a single meteorite. Citing a Russian Interior Ministry spokesperson, the AP says that over 500 people have been injured, many by broken glass

Local accounts provided to Reuters tell of burning objects in the sky followed by huge blasts that shattered windows and set off car alarms. The video above shows a bright white streak recorded from a dash-mounted camera, and below we see and hear closer evidence of the blast, with the white streak in the sky leading to a massive explosion — be warned, the video is loud. Many Russian drivers keep cameras on their dashboard in order to ensure evidence in the event of a traffic incident "

Notice what else "The Verge" has to say:

Unconfirmed reports from Russia Today, a less than reliable source at the best of times, suggest that a meteor was blown away by a surface-to-air missile salvo, but there's little evidence of that from the videos we're seeing.

So, I took a look at "The Verge"

The Verge was founded in 2011 in partnership with Vox Media, and covers the intersection of technology, science, art, and culture. Its mission is to offer in-depth reporting and long-form feature stories, breaking news coverage, product information, and community content in a unified and cohesive manner. The site is powered by Vox Media's Chorus platform, a modern media stack built for web-native news in the 21st century.
Masthead
Editorial Staff

Editor-in-chief, co-founder: Joshua Topolsky
Managing Editor: Nilay Patel
Senior Editors: Dieter Bohn, Sean Hollister, Paul Miller, Chris Ziegler
Senior Reviews Editor: David Pierce
Senior Editors, Europe: Thomas Ricker, Vlad Savov, Tom Warren
Senior Editorial Producer, Video: Ross Miller
Editors: Ben Popper, Dan Seifert
Features Editors: Joseph L. Flatley, Thomas Houston, Jesse Hicks, Laura June
Senior Reporter: Tim Carmody
Reporters: Bryan Bishop, Russell Brandom, Carl Franzen, Ellis Hamburger, Nathan Ingraham, Adrianne Jeffries, Joshua Kopstein, Adi Robertson, TC Sottek, Andrew Webster
Reporter, Europe: Aaron Souppouris
Reporters, Asia: Jeffrey Blagdon, Sam Byford
News Writers: Dante D'Orazio, Amar Toor, Chris Welch
News Writer, Europe: Louis Goddard
Contributing Writers: Matt Macari, Trent Wolbe
Designers: James Chae, Scott Kellum
Social Media: Sam Sheffer

Executive Director, Vox Studios: Chad Mumm
Head of Production, Vox Studios: Kyle Kramer
Video Features Producer: Stephen Greenwood
Lead Directors: Billy Disney, Jordan Oplinger
Directors / Editors: John Lagomarsino, Ryan Manning, Sam Thonis
Director, Post Production: Marcos Bueno
Podcast Producer: Brendan Murphy
Video Publishing Assistant: Evan Rodgers

Assistant to the Editor-in-chief: Michael Shane
Editorial Operations Assistant: Leah Sigler

Director of Events, Vox Media: Nina Sokoler
Product Database Manager: William Savona
Vox Media New York Office Manager: Lorien Olsen

Interns: Joshua Cherkes, Chaim Gartenberg, Tyler Gold, Hyunhu Jang, Jacob Kastrenakes, Zinon Kyprianou, Lucas Ogera, and Louis Sansano

The Verge Founding Editorial Team: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Joanna Stern, Dieter Bohn, Joseph L. Flatley, Sean Hollister, Thomas Houston, Laura June, Paul Miller, Ross Miller, Thomas Ricker, Vlad Savov, and Chris Ziegler

Publisher, co-founder: Marty Moe

Looks like one of those well-funded sites designed to take people in and help shape their ideas and opinions. In this case, however, they are right. I don't fault RT for mentioning the rumor, nevertheless.

 

[Ko smo]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

Would something like this be more common in future?

Thank you

KO SMO?!

Most probably, but when is still open.

Read for example this book that was suggested earlier, where Laura brings up many facts and connections of comet activity in past history:

What is Hom, Laura? I want to read it. I am russian boy of course/ sorry my English is not good

http://www.amazon.com/Comets-Horns-@%5B100002010296779:2048:Moses%5D-Laura-Knight-Jadczyk/dp/1897244835/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360921879&sr=8-1&keywords=The+horns+of+Moses

or

Celestial Intentions: Comets and the Horns of Moses as an introduction.

Or for the beginning have a look here too of the commet series (commets and catastrophes) on sott (which can be found on the left side bar of sott.net), i.e.:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/160925-Tunguska-Psychopathy-and-the-Sixth-Extinction

Thank you will check it.

 

[lewis_86]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

Armageddon outta heah.

 

[Eboard10]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

I'm finding this interesting because an incoming asteroid was "supposed" to miss us by 17,150 miles today.

Yeah, that's the impression I got when I first heard about the meteorite in Russia this morning. Since the comet was going to miss the Earth by just 15 minutes, it is more than likely that part of it must have separated as it got close to the planet.

 

[Aeneas]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

This meteor incident just highlights the risk of nuclear power as I wrote in another post cited below, as nuclear power relies on a stable society over a long period of time. The decommissioning of Fukushima is scheduled to take another 38 years.

It only takes one fireball over a nuclear station to unleash hell. Chelyabinsk a city of 1.1 million and located just 72km from Mayak Production Association, one of the biggest nuclear facilities in the Russian Federation. (Wikipedia has downplayed this bit when looking up Chelyabinsk, since just a couple of hours ago and now put this nuclear facility 150km from Chelyabinsk...an honest mistake or deliberate?)


From the other post which seems relevant here:

As I mentioned at the end of thread http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1027 (no longer active)

The nuclear industry for energy production today relies on a stable society where the whole infrastructure is functioning. In case of a slight accident, emergency procedures and contingency plans are activated, yet these plans rely on
1) Power supply
2) People to implement the emergency procedures and contingency plans
3) Helicopter and aircraft to encapsulate the reactor as seen with Chernobyl
4) Normal infrastructure such as roads, communications network etc.

and

So without even taking into account cyclical comet showers, global warming with resulting rising sealevels, likely increased hurricane activity and intensity (with the probable flow on effect of stimulating earthquakes) this appears to me to be globally irresponsible.

It took Fukushima for the world to wake up to the danger of Nuclear power, while they could just have read signs of the times in 2006. The reason for saying this was the article called Meteor Strike Hazard: All US Nuclear Plants Facing Upgrades in todays Sott, which reads:

Progress Energy's chief nuclear officer announced this week that every U.S. nuclear plant will add an extra layer of emergency equipment this year to deal with unforeseen natural disasters - such as earthquakes, tornadoes and even meteor strikes.

The announcement comes just ahead of the one-year anniversary of Japan's Fukushima disaster.

But nuclear watchdogs immediately expressed skepticism that the industry effort would do much good. Critics warned instead that unless the new machinery and equipment were safeguarded, the costly upgrades would likely be disabled by the same catastrophe if it obliterated a nuclear plant's primary emergency equipment.

Jim Scarola, Progress Energy's chief nuclear officer, said Friday that nuclear plants in this country will be adding pumps, generators and other safety equipment to deal with a total loss of onsite power, which led to Japan's nuclear crisis.

Scarola is the special liaison for the U.S. nuclear industry's Fukushima response, which was set up to improve nuclear plant safety in the past year. The U.S. effort was formed just a day after a 50-foot tsunami disabled coastal reactors in Japan on March 11, 2011, washing away diesel generators and other emergency equipment, and claiming 19,000 lives by drowning in the inundated region.

"One of the things we set out to do is not to take the stance that it can't happen here," Scarola said of the nation's nuclear officials. "What we're really concerned about is being able to provide water and energy" to keep safety equipment running during a catastrophic event that causes high death rates and wipes out roads and other infrastructure.

Efforts criticized

Electric utilities are upgrading the 104 commercial operating nuclear reactors in this country in anticipation of stricter federal rules. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to issue its first round of recommendations next week to make the reactors safer during earthquakes, flooding and other disasters.

But in a report issued this week, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a 43-year-old nuclear watchdog organization, criticized the industry effort as misguided.

"Plant owners are dispersing (extra equipment) in numerous locations on and near reactor sites but are not planning to harden it against natural disasters," the group said. "The industry is banking on there being enough equipment available so that at least some of it would be usable in the event of a catastrophe."

Getting ahead of NRC

Furthermore, the group chided the NRC for taking so long to create tougher standards.

"The industry has already purchased more than 300 pieces of ... equipment without waiting for NRC guidelines, which will make it difficult for the agency to later institute standards that could force the industry to replace the equipment," the scientist organization said.

Chief nuclear officers at U.S. nuclear plants agreed three weeks ago to purchase the extra equipment, Scarola said. The cooling systems would override disabled pumps to prevent the reactor fuel from overheating, melting down and releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere.

Raleigh-based Progress Energy has already ordered the equipment for its four nuclear plants in the Carolinas and Florida, he said. This first phase of upgrades will cost each nuclear plant between $500,000 and $1.5 million for portable pumps, generators, lights, fans, direct-current supplies, satellite phones and other equipment.

The equipment would be just the beginning of upgrades that could take several years to implement, however.

Regional centers

Scarola also said Friday that the nuclear industry is developing regional response centers that could airlift emergency equipment, fuel and water to operate emergency cooling equipment in the event that a nuclear plant is severely disabled by a meteor or some other catastrophe.

But isn't that just windowdressing and wishful thinking? In the original post on this thread (http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1027 ) that is no longer available it was pointed out how ridiculous this notion of regional response centers is in the event of a meteor strike, as the infrastructure is likely gone in whole regions. Tunguska, which was not a big meteor as far as meteors are concerned, still flattened 2000 squarekilometers. As it says on wikipedia on Tunguska:

Although the meteoroid or comet burst in the air rather than hitting the surface, this event is still referred to as an impact. Estimates of the energy of the blast range from 5 to as high as 30 megatons of TNT (21–130 PJ),[6][7] with 10–15 megatons of TNT (42–63 PJ) the most likely[7] – roughly equal to the United States' Castle Bravo thermonuclear bomb tested on March 1, 1954, about 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and about one-third the power of the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated on October 30, 1961.[8] The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees covering 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). It is estimated that the shock wave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.

Equivalent to about 1000 Hiroshima bombs! And flattening the area of 2150 square kilometres. To give an idea of how big that is, Worchestershire in England covers 1741 square kilometers. Here is how the Tunguska area looks in comparison with Washington BC:

If a meteor strikes then a regional center, (if it isn't destroyed in the blast) with let us say 10-20 helicopters will be of litte use in stopping a nuclear meltdown. Most of the people of those still standing will be left in a complete shock having lost everything and in little capacity to actively help. Not to mention that they most likely will be most occupied with their own injuries and looking after their own dead and wounded.

Here is a description of the Tunguska event that highlights the impact that such an event can have on a region/regions:

7.14 am. Pine trees glow in the summer light. The morning is blue and cloudless.

Then a blinding ball of light rips across the sky, trailing a column of fire.

Some eye-witnesses say the light was red. Others claim it was blue, and cylindrical in shape.

It races down towards the Tunguska River, and explodes.

A spear of fire splits the sky. Explosions boom across the land.

A dark mushroom cloud begins rolling upwards. It will reach a height of 80km: ten times higher than Mt Everest.

Over 70km away, a farmer is in his yard when the sky to the north bursts into fire.

A wall of heat strikes him; his shirt is almost burned off. A blast of air hurls him across the yard, and noise bellows all around.

House windows shatter; the building rocks.

Nearly 200km from the explosion, another farmer in a field hears several deafening bangs.

The pine forest thrashes. He and his horse are almost knocked off their feet. Soil flies into the air.

A wall of water is blown up the nearby river.

Elsewhere, herdsmen's tents are whipped from the ground by shock waves.

Only two people die, but near the explosion site, thousands of reindeer are burned to death.

But back to the original article from today:

Industry officials are looking at creating anywhere from one to five such response centers around the country that would support nuclear plants indefinitely in the event that roads as well as phone links were wiped out.

Nuclear plants typically have a seven-day capacity to operate emergency cooling pumps with backup generators, with the assumption that roads would be passable so that more fuel could be trucked in.

The NRC will issue its recommendations in three phases in the coming years. Other changes the NRC could consider - which have been proposed by the UCS and as recently as this week by the American Nuclear Society - would expand the 10-mile emergency evacuation zones around each reactor to account for large population centers nearby.

The Shearon Harris evacuation zone includes about 122,000 people, mostly in Wake County. The Harris plant's evacuation plan doesn't include contingencies for Raleigh, a city of more than 400,000 residents, which sits just outside the evacuation zone.

I suggest reading Laura's compilation of meteor events over the last 10000 years to get an idea about the prevalence: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls

 

[Cosmos]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

Wouww... I just saw it on mainstream TV, after coming back from work, that was a big blast!

What strikes me is that the mainstream news don't seem to be able to cover it up with a missle story or something else.

They even make special broadcasts about it.

 

[Eboard10]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

Interesting how they are already dismissing the possibility of radiation. It could be the case but isn't it a bit early?

_http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_02_15/Urals-meteorite-no-radiation-around-impact-crater/

The Russian Defence Ministry says its experts have so far failed to detect abnormal radiation levels around the six-meter impact crater left by a fragment of the South Urals meteorite near Chebarkul Lake in Chelyabinsk Region.

Astronomers at the Pulkovo Observatory outside St Petersburg say they believe the meteorite that crashed into the South Urals this morning was linked to the approach of the 2012DA14 asteroid, which is to make a close shave with the Earth at a distance of just 27,000 kilometers tonight.

The meteorite measured several meters across and had a mass of about 10 metric tons.

It entered the atmosphere at some 20 kilometers a second and disintegrated at 30 to 50 kilometers above the surface. Its fireball could be observed from five Russian regions and northern Kazakhstan.

The shockwave from the explosion shattered window panes in Chelyabinsk and several other towns and cities, leaving some 700 people injured with broken glass. About a hundred Chelyabinsk school students are in hospital with cuts and concussions.

President Vladimir Putin has issued orders to rush emergency help.

Latest reports say the explosions damaged about 3,000 buildings in Chelyabinsk.

Voice of Russia, TASS

 

[Gimpy]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

Woke up this morning to news of this. (as in, *just woke up*, the Power Co. dudes knocked on the front door, shocking me out of sleep, yeah that's irony for you.)

Hubby wants to read the new book, now.

;D

Very nice and clear to see. Very bright!

http://youtu.be/7c-0iwBEswE

Meteorite crash in Russia: UFO fears spark panic in the Urals (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

http://rt.com/news/meteorite-crash-urals-chelyabinsk-283/

Minor injuries, services disrupted, panic and so forth.

Nice advertisement for "Horns of Moses," eh?

 

[Mark7]

Re: fireball over Russia 2013-2-15

...UFO fears spark panic in the Urals...

Modern myth making at work already, kind of explains how those fanciful tales of the angry gods got started.
What they must have seen back then must have been awesome indeed. This one in Russia is just a bottle-rocket.

Comment from reader of meteor article:

Can't wait for Moscow's offical, (sic) response. They'll tell us that Vladimir Putin took off his shirt and then smashed the meteor with his Fists of Thunder.

[Edit: added comment quote]

 

[whitecoast]

Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt



http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130

(Reuters) - More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings.

People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 950 miles east of Moscow.

A fireball blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 125 miles away in Yekaterinburg. Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phone networks were interrupted.

"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.

"I felt like I was blinded by headlights," he said.

No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.

A local ministry official said such incidents were extremely rare and Friday's events might have been linked to an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool due to pass Earth at a distance of 17,100 miles but this was not confirmed.

Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the meteorite was travelling at a speed of 19 miles per second and that such events were hard to predict. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion had caused a sonic boom.

Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 514 people had sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, and that 112 of those were kept in hospital. Search groups were set up to look for the remains of the meteorite.

"There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before," said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry.

WINDOWS BREAK, FRAMES BUCKLE

Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk's central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.

A loud noise, resembling an explosion, rang out at around 9.20 a.m. (12:20 a.m. ET). The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the industrial city's center.

"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."

A wall was damaged at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but a spokeswoman said there was no environmental threat.

Although such events are rare, a meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 1,250 miles in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 125 miles from the point of impact.

The Emergencies Ministry described Friday's events as a "meteor shower in the form of fireballs" and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.

Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said what sounded like a blast had been heard at an altitude of 32,800 feet.

The U.S. space agency NASA has said an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 46 meters in diameter, would have an encounter with Earth closer than any asteroid since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.

Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 500 miles higher. The moon is 14 times farther away.

(Additional reporting by Natalia Shurmina in Yekaterinburg and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Writing by Alexei Anishchuk and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Michael Holden

 

[Nook]

Re: Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt

One article is already on sott on the subject fwiw:

http://www.sott.net/article/258462-Meteor-fall-injures-hundreds-in-central-Russia

 

[Laura]

Just out of curiosity, if it had come in a few hours later, where might it have hit?

 

[Zadius Sky]

Very nice and clear to see. Very bright!

http://youtu.be/7c-0iwBEswE

I just clicked on the link again and got this: "This video has been removed by the user."

Just out of curiosity, if it had come in a few hours later, where might it have hit?

If it would be coming from the east, Europe would be hit. It'd be nice to know the exact trajectory of the object, though.

ADDED:

Just checked the observed trajectory, which was mostly from north to south, so somewhere in Middle East or Uzbekistan would possibly be hit...

 

[Renaissance]

A fox news anchor asks if asteroids are caused by global warming.

:facepalm:

http://now.msn.com/deb-feyerick-cnn-anchor-seems-to-link-global-warming-and-asteroids

Bill Nye 'the science guy' interestingly lays out the reasons to be nervous, making the host a bit nervous herself.

 

[Zadius Sky]

It's just been uploaded:

Meteorite crater in Chelyabinsk:

http://youtu.be/OaREmEdXZe4