# Apparently, size DOESN'T Matter. For Meteors! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 24, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116 "2007-12-24T11:49:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/1 "2007-12-24T11:49:25Z")
[Tunguska object smaller than previously believed.](http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/asteroid.html) > [@](#): > > The stunning amount of forest devastation at Tunguska a century ago in Siberia may have been caused by an asteroid only a fraction as large as previously published estimates, Sandia National Laboratories supercomputer simulations suggest. > > “The asteroid that caused the extensive damage was much smaller than we had thought,” says Sandia principal investigator Mark Boslough of the impact that occurred June 30, 1908. “That such a small object can do this kind of destruction suggests that smaller asteroids are something to consider. Their smaller size indicates such collisions are not as improbable as we had believed.” Somebody’d better alert Bruce Willis that he’s got a lot more work to do! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/2 "2007-12-24T11:54:29Z")
It was actually quite a big one - it just wore vertical stripes that just made it _look_ smaller. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/3 "2007-12-24T12:47:28Z")
Maybe aliens were test firing a mass driver and we were a convenient target. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/4 "2007-12-24T16:49:14Z")
What a frustrating article – they don’t say how big they _used to think_ the Tunguska impactor was, vs how big they think it is _now_. its all about how they now have super-fly 'puters that model the energy transfer from the blast better. I’m admittedly on my first cuppa Joe – am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/5 "2007-12-24T17:18:26Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] What a frustrating article – they don’t say how big they _used to think_ the Tunguska impactor was, vs how big they think it is _now_. its all about how they now have super-fly 'puters that model the energy transfer from the blast better. I’m admittedly on my first cuppa Joe – am I missing something? [/QUOTE] No, I read the linked article looking for the same info, and it isn’t there. Awful match between headline and story. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/6 "2007-12-24T17:28:42Z")
Its still an interesting article, **Tuckerfan**. Hmm, it gets murkier. [This](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071221-tunguska.html) article, inspired by that press release, quotes an unaffiliated scientist about size: > [@National Geographic](#): > > **Asteroid the Size of the White House** … yadayadayada…“The data on objects of White House-size are pretty lousy,” said Hartmann OK, was the old object estimate “White House” sized, or the new estimate? Or are we snipping off the West Wing in the 2nd estimate? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/7 "2007-12-24T17:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] No, I read the linked article looking for the same info, and it isn’t there. Awful match between headline and story. [/QUOTE] Shhh! Scary headlines mean _more_ money for NASA! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/8 "2007-12-24T17:32:31Z")
Huh, [Fox News](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,317929,00.html) of all places nails the missing detail: > [@FoxNews.com](#): > > Specifically, he and his colleagues say it would have been a factor of three or four smaller in mass and perhaps 65 feet (20 meters) in diameter. Which gives an initial size of 195-260 feet (unless I’m misunderstanding their use of “factor”). ETA: I should learn to read – earlier in the story it says: > [@FoxNews.com](#): > > In the last decade, researchers have conjectured the event was triggered by an asteroid exploding in Earth’s atmosphere that was roughly 100 feet wide (30 meters) and 560,000 metric tons in mass — more than 10 times that of the Titanic. So that “factor” must refer to the mass, not the diameter. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/9 "2007-12-24T17:40:08Z")
Wow, if a 50 foot rock will make a 5 megaton blast, I’m gonna expect one in my lifetime. There’s gotta be a gazillion of them out there. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apparently-size-doesnt-matter-for-meteors/431116/10 "2007-12-24T21:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It was actually quite a big one - it just wore vertical stripes that just made it _look_ smaller. [/QUOTE] \ Very nicely done.\ 🆒