# Meteorite in Russia, with pics and video **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2013, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374 "2013-02-15T05:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/81 "2013-02-15T23:14:16Z")
Edit: I just read the CNN article. Someone in the lower third is advocating an meteor/asteroid warning and defence system of satellites. IMO, not technologically feasible at this time. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/82 "2013-02-15T23:26:37Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > “Vigilance”? Doing what? > > Watching the sky, with the nearest observatory on speed dial? We should have listen to Ned Scott, or at least Jack Horkheimer. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/83 "2013-02-15T23:28:44Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Impact craters are always circular. I remember that factoid from “Lucifer’s Hammer.” One of the characters tossed stones into the sandbox to prove it to himself. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/84 "2013-02-15T23:37:55Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Why does Russia seem to get so many meteors? First Tunguska, now this? Jesus hates commies? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/85 "2013-02-15T23:52:53Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Edit: I just read the CNN article. Someone in the lower third is advocating an meteor/asteroid warning and defence system of satellites. IMO, not technologically feasible at this time. Well, we could probably set up a spotting/warning system if we really wanted to do so… but there isn’t a damn thing can do a present to prevent a flying rock from hitting our planet. _Maybe_, with enough warning, we could evacuate an area but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/86 "2013-02-16T00:12:38Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I remember that factoid from “Lucifer’s Hammer.” One of the characters tossed stones into the sandbox to prove it to himself. And ironically enough I read that book recently but forgot that part. Another good book, I found the ending where they are willing to fight and die to preserve scientific knowledge from another impending Dark Age rather affecting actually… ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/87 "2013-02-16T00:26:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Jesus hates commies? Seems about as effective a wrath-of-god effort as striking the southern US, but sparing San Francisco, with a hurricane out of displeasure with gay people… given that the communists didn’t take over Russia for quite a while after Tunguska, and lost power long before this event. Maybe Jesus _wants_ communism! ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/88 "2013-02-16T00:36:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I remember that factoid from “Lucifer’s Hammer.” One of the characters tossed stones into the sandbox to prove it to himself. Nitpick - the physics of hypervelocity impacts and of regular old rocks-falling-in-a-sandbox impacts are pretty different. Any fragments from this event in Russia would probably have slowed down to terminal velocity and had effects more like the rocks in the sandbox, but objects big enough to make an ‘impact crater’ in the ‘craters-on-the-moon’ sense would have plowed right through the atmosphere with enough speed that the object would have been completely destroyed on impact, or nearly so. The supersonic shock wave the propagates through the target rock, the vapourization and melting of the impactor and part of the target, and the evolution of the structure in the moments after the initial formation of the cavity all make for a pretty different process. Such hypervelocity impacts create essentially circular craters except for very oblique impacts (current thinking is around 10° or less above horizontal), or in cases of very unusual target topography. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/89 "2013-02-16T00:58:48Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > Seems about as effective a wrath-of-god effort as striking the southern US, G-d would not strike the Bible Belt, and capitalize that “S”, pardner! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/90 "2013-02-16T02:41:23Z")
> [@wolfstu](#): > > Nitpick - the physics of hypervelocity impacts and of regular old rocks-falling-in-a-sandbox impacts are pretty different. Any fragments from this event in Russia would probably have slowed down to terminal velocity and had effects more like the rocks in the sandbox, but objects big enough to make an ‘impact crater’ in the ‘craters-on-the-moon’ sense would have plowed right through the atmosphere with enough speed that the object would have been completely destroyed on impact, or nearly so. The supersonic shock wave the propagates through the target rock, the vapourization and melting of the impactor and part of the target, and the evolution of the structure in the moments after the initial formation of the cavity all make for a pretty different process. > > Such hypervelocity impacts create essentially circular craters except for very oblique impacts (current thinking is around 10° or less above horizontal), or in cases of very unusual target topography. Another exception; I recall reading that objects that are captured in orbit around a planet with atmosphere and whose orbits eventually decay from atmospheric friction do leave oblong craters, presumably due to both a lower velocity and hitting at an angle. I understand that Mars has an equatorial belt of such craters (actually two belts; its crust tilted over at some point in its distant past, so what is now the equator didn’t used to be). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/91 "2013-02-16T02:53:45Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > what is now the equator didn’t used to be. How is the equator defined? I thought it was the line between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/92 "2013-02-16T03:34:09Z")
I just saw a couple of astronomers being interviewed, and they confirmed that the meteor came from the general direction of the sun, so it appears it’s just a coincidence that it arrived the same day as the larger asteroid. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/93 "2013-02-16T04:19:26Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How is the equator defined? I thought it was the line between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. A line that in the case of Mars, moved; at least the crust appear to have done so back in prehistory. Apparently major volcanic activity changed the balance of the crust with a massive buildup of dense rock away from the original equator, resulting in the crust sliding over the mantle until balance was restored. That doesn’t happen to Earth because of the tidal effects of our large, close moon. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/94 "2013-02-16T04:30:04Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Every indication is that that they are completely unrelated and merely a coincidence. Coincidences happen ya’ know. But was it a big coincidence or a little coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/95 "2013-02-16T04:37:30Z")
it’s a late coincidence, by about two months. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/96 "2013-02-16T08:13:32Z")
Fun [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) article about this topic: [5 Meteor Videos That Prove Russians Don’t Give a F#@k](http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/5-meteor-videos-that-prove-russians-dont-give-f2340k/) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/97 "2013-02-16T08:55:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A meteor is the thing you see as a bright light. > A meteorite is the thing that has hit the Earth, the remains of the meteor after it hits. Or as Joanna Newsom put it: [ [QUOTE=Joanna Newsom’s ‘Emily’] That the meteorite is a source of the light And the meteor’s just what we see And the meteoroid is a stone that’s devoid of the fire that propelled it to thee And the meteorite’s just what causes the light And the meteor’s how it’s perceived And the meteoroid’s a bone thrown from the void that lies quiet in offering to thee [/QUOTE] ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW8zvWdxCHg) > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Jesus hates commies? That theory seems to be borne out by reports of [another alleged meteorite explosion](http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/02/meteorite-like-object-strikes-cuba-as-asteroid-buzzes-earth-after-russia-meteorite-strike/) over Cuba… ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/98 "2013-02-16T14:56:21Z")
According to preliminary calculations from NASA and others, the bolide weighed in the vicinity of 10 tons and exploded at an altitude of between 30 and 50 kilometers with a yield of **500 kilotons**. That is roughly 30 times the energy released by the atom bomb in Hiroshima. Holy frak – this appears to be the biggest meteor event since Tunguska. There you go, Russia – two for two in the “being hit by the biggest meteor in the last 120 years” category! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/99 "2013-02-16T16:05:03Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Holy frak – this appears to be the biggest meteor event since Tunguska. Ghostbuster Ray: You have been a participant in the biggest interdimensional cross rip since the Tunguska blast of 1909! (1909. 1908. Whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374/100 "2013-02-16T16:34:39Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Ghostbuster Ray: You have been a participant in the biggest interdimensional cross rip since the Tunguska blast of 1909! > > (1909. 1908. Whatever.) June 30, (June 17 Old Style Russian) 1908. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meteorite-in-russia-with-pics-and-video/650374.md?page=6)