I was reading the Bad Astronomy blog and see and article where the BA needs an article translated to english in order to follow developments on a meteor impact story. When I saw this I immediatly thought of the all-knowing Teeming Millions and thought I’d direct the question to you.
Can anyone here give an accurate translation for the article linked in this article by BA?
You can go there to help or make it here and I will relate it and give the credit to you. If made directly please let us know and I’ll ask that this be closed.
Thanks in advance.
What the heck, I’ll have a go:
"Recent claims that the meteor impact in Northern Troms may have had an explosive force comparable to the Hiroshima atomic bomb are vehemently rejected in this comment by Kaare Aksnes, professor of astronomy at the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo.
It is regrettable that claims have been made suggesting that the meteor impact in Northern Troms may have had an explosive force comparable to the Hiroshima atomic bomb. These claims are extremely exaggerated.
It is likewise regrettable that it may appear as if our Institute is behind these claims.
The atomic bomb detonated over Hiroshima had an explosive force determined as being equal to about 40,000 tons of TNT. This is approximately equal to the kinetic energy of a rock with a radius of 3 meters, a density of 3.5 grams per cubic cm, and a velocity of 30 km/s, as it enters the upper parts of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Several such impacts occur each year, and are observed by satellites set up to monitor the ban on atmospheric nuclear detonations.
However, such a rock would be almost entirely incinerated in the atmosphere due to heat caused by friction, and any remains that might make it to the ground would impact with a velocity comparable to that of a bullet shot from a rifle.
Almost all of the original energy would have been lost on the way to the ground, partly as a bright flash of light and thunderous noise in the seconds before the impact in the Reis Valley in Northern Troms. My estimate would be that the power of the impact would at most have been that of a somewhat powerful conventional bomb.
The last documented impact with an energy comparable to the Hiroshima bomb occurred in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908. Calculations have shown that this may have been due to an object with a radius of 50 meters, exploding several kilometers above Tunguska, flattening trees in an area with a radius of 25 km.
I can also inform the public that the Institute of Astrophysics is taking part in a program involving the Nordic Optical Telescope at La Palma, Canary Islands, intended to assess the danger of collisions with near-earth asteroids.
So far, no objects have been discovered that will pose a threat in the foreseeable future."
Oh, and Mod’s, please feel free to close this thread.
Thanks