Russian Meteor Causes Sonic Boom, 1000 Injured by zennie62
An extraordinary natural event has been captured on video by many people in and around Chelyabinsk, a city with a population over one million, about 1500 kilometers east of Moscow.
Watch a compilation video of the meteorite crashing through the sky
As it rocketed through the sky, it ignited into a fiery ball it generating a brilliant light, then it smashed into a factory, putting a hole in the wall, with the explosion damaging 3000 buildings.
Reports indicate over 1000 people were injured by the explosion which blew out thousands of windows and blasted open doors, as the video below shows from what must have been surveillance cameras.
The Guardian reports,
" The Russian Academy of Sciences estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tons and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph), shattering about 30-50km (18-32 miles) above ground.. and that the main body of the meteorite has been found.
Rumours swirled in the hours after the incident. The meteorite may have been engaged by local air defence units and blown apart at an altitude of 20km (12.4 miles), according to reports on state-owned TV channel Russia Today. There was no official confirmation of any military action.
The ultranationalist leader of Russia's Liberal Democrat party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, said that it was not a meteorite shower, but "a test of new American weapons," Interfax reported. "
As a science fiction fan, I've watched all the asteroid crash movies. This reminds me of how they always show that before the big asteroid is blown up and the earth is saved, smaller chunks of the asteroid hit the earth hours before. But Huffingtonpost reports that NASA experts say otherwise:
" The meteor that exploded in a blinding burst of light and streaked across the sky over the Ural mountains in Russia on Feb. 15 has no connection to the anticipated flyby by asteroid DA14 , according to a top NASA scientist.
Don Yeomans, asteroid expert and head of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office told Space.com Friday that the event, an exploding fireball known as a bolide , was not associated with incoming asteroid 2012 DA14.
"The asteroid will travel south to north," Yeomans wrote in an email to Space.com. " The bolide trail was not south to north and the separation in time between the fireball and 2012 DA14 close approach is significant."
Still, it is a very, very odd coincidence.
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