Exploding meteor causes panic in central Russia; nearly 1,000 injured

I wonder how many other such events may occur, related to the big asteroid fly-by.

Video of this is amazing. Are asteroids getting closer and closer?

Curious how the phones were knocked out. Shock wave = Electromagnetic pulse?

Those dashboard cams are capturing a lot of events. A plane crash not long ago, a meteor this time...

Yes - seriously amazing video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7c-0iwBEswE

The "flames" a meteor displays as it enters the atmosphere are for the great part not the meteor itself burning but plasma created by the immense speed - if it were the meteor itself burning, it would exhaust itself quickly. Such speeds are also accompanied by sonic booms. Perhaps that had something to do with the mobile phone outage.

If anyone has further info, I'd like to hear.

According to an article on RT,

" According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit at the Urzhumka settlement near Chelyabinsk. A missile salvo blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers, local newspaper Znak reports quoting a source in the military."

That sounds unlikely, but it was reported that an antenna was struck or otherwise damaged, affecting mobile phone/internet.

They have video here:

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/15/breaking_huge_meteor_explodes_over_russia.html

A large part of the meteor has been found in a nearby lake, ACCOTDING to CNN.

according to CNN.

With this and that upcoming asteroid fly-by, Im thinking there is a little something we are not being told. Or is NASA really only able to predict near collisions 2 days out? Russian air defense being able/ready to intercept makes me wonder if indeed a collision collision was (still is?) expected, and governments simply chose not to warn...

Transformers are back!

Well, this should wake up the conspiracy theorists.

A six-meter crater has been found.

More updates:

http://rt.com/news/russia-meteor-meteorite-asteroid-chelyabinsk-291/

One of those special circumstances where panic it totally justified.

Wait, why are there reports of burning fields? Meteors don't set things on fire. I'm starting to wonder if all these big bangs I've been reading about are really what they've been reported as.

I got a phone call from Chelyabinsk city. A powerful sound of aerial explosion took place around 10 a.m. local time. Windows in many houses were broken. Wire communications are working well why cell phone network is still mainly out of service. There were no panic among population. According to latest news, windows of 297 houses are broken, 500 people are wounded.

There damn well should have been panic. If I had seen something like that flying overhead, my first thought would have been and annoyed "Damn, the end-of-worlder's were right."

When was the Tunguska blast? 1908 or something?

About six hours before the fly-by. We'll see whether NASA is correct in their calculations and whether there are other rocks.

When was the Tunguska blast? 1908 or something?

In 1908. According to preliminary calculations, the overall mass of Chelyabinsk meteorite was no less than 10 ton.

And cue the conspiracy theory lunatics who will suggest some bat**** crazy reason how the government "knows more than its letting on"

" And cue the conspiracy theory lunatics who will suggest some bat**** crazy reason how the government "knows more than its letting on"

According to NASA, the big one will make its pass in about six hours. Will it bring any friends to the party? Just one might be enough to ruin your day, fella.

With the (increasing) amount of secrecy rampant in the 'free world', the crazies are those who DO believe the government line. Logically, there is little reason for them to alert the population of an incoming collision. Theres also little reason to remind people that PLATO described extinction-level events occuring due to regular, recurring 'astrological derangements'. Live or die, theres no benefit in alarming folks.

What is alarming, though, is how close these things are coming... not to mention the emp-like effects reported in Russia. But Im sure those who claim no knowledge will have emergency control plans, 'just in case'.

And the world with end by balls of fire....

I wonder how many other such events may occur, related to the big asteroid fly-by.

All indications are that this was traveling in a different direction and unrelated to the flyby tonight.

... and then there is that of-unknown-purpose thing North Korea has / had meandering in some oft-defined orbit. hmm...

“I am scratching my head to think of anything in recorded history when that number of people have been indirectly injured by an object like this… it’s very, very rare to have human casualties,” Robert Massey, deputy executive secretary of Britain’s Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), told AFP.

Based on the number of amateur videos that are showing up on YouTube, it's not hard to understand why over 500 were injured and why over 100 were SERIOUSLY injured. The time was just as the sun was breaking the horizon, so it was still very much "dawn". People in buildings and at schools see this bright light (brighter than the sun) throw shadows in the rooms that quickly traverse the room as the light source goes by. Everyone rushes to the windows to see what happened and while they're all standing inches away from the windows and staring at the smoke trail, the shockwave hits. They have no chance to protect their faces from the flying glass.

I wonder how many other such events may occur, related to the big asteroid fly-by.

The trajectory of the Chelyebinsk meteorite puts its origin in a completely different sector of space than the big one that flew by today. Scientists are calling it a "cosmic coincidence".

Whoops! Sorry! Just looked at that Russian link, and it does look like there were several objects, not just one.

It entered the atmosphere as one, then broke into three as it burned up. At least ONE of them reached the ground. Russian news is showing footage of a 6 meter-diameter hole in the ice of a nearby frozen lake that was in the path of the meteors. Methinks Russia should thank the meteorite for marking its location so nicely. The cold water probably shattered the hot meteorite, though.

Behooves powers to mobilize resources to divert meteor threats not threaten each other. If it's inherent that man fights, let's have a trade war. Strive to lower costs improve quality over the others.

Remarkable on two accounts, one the damage and injury, and two the number of videos shown, many by phones. Interesting world we live in. Meanwhile there is a possibility of more coming. No one is saying for certain, but if nothing happens in the next twelve hours, then we can relax.

While the press was so focused on 2012 AD 14 and how it would not hit Earth, they were not very clear about how other asteroids would be affected.

I wanted to know exactly when 2012 AD 14 would be at its closest point to Earth at Japan time, but I could find no clear answer of what time zone the time mentioned was. The reason was because I figured there would be an increase in meteor activity. But I sure did not expect an event like this. We all should have been better informed.

They just fired a warning shot across our bow!

Another video of aerial explosion of space junk over Chelyabinsk :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNTNYI5lEKk

Not something people should panic about, as there is nothing we can do with what we've been told, and I don't think there's any large conspiracy or anything. A large meteor flew by the earth, and no doubt it brought some rubble along with it -- that's all. Does that mean this is the end of it? Probably the worst of it, but might not be the end. That it hit a populated area is a mere fluke, but with everything out there in space I don't think it should be a surprise. Hopefully they are now on full alert and tracking anywhere and everywhere in the event more might be coming. I would imagine, though, that it is hard to track such small objects moving at the speeds they do until they are pretty close to their mark.

I would imagine, though, that it is hard to track such small objects moving at the speeds they do until they are pretty close to their mark.

I am watching TV program right now where people asking questions to scientists and representatives of armed forces about possibility of early detection and interception / destroying dangerous pieces of space junk before atmospheric phase. Scientists are replying that due to a very hign speed, relatively small size and sharp angle of re-entry, the early detection (by modern technical devices) is almost impossible.

The odds of getting hurt or killed by a meteor are way less than just trying to cross a street here in Tokyo, so as long as they are tiny meteors no big deal, IMHO

You have to marvel at the age of technology because it has provided some amazing footage of this incredible event.

It's a reminder that we really are tiny, insignificant parts of a big, big universe that has the ability to wreak havoc on us any time.

Melancholia, not just a depressing Lars von Trier movie anymore?

Exploding meteor causes panic in central Russia

It was NO panic ( I'm writing from a neighboring city Yekaterinburg)

We also had "flare in the sky" at this time ....

And of cause you can put "Exploding Meteor in Chelyabinsk, " in you tube

and see all by your own eyes

@Olegek, spaciba?? Thanks for that info from Russia!!! Anymore news reports from your part of the world, very, very welcome!!

First, timing is everything. If this rock had passed overhead four to six hours earlier, the big show would have been seen in eastern China, Korea, and Japan. Twelve hours earlier would have treated the Americans and Canadians to the event. Thank the Russians for all that great camera coverage; it was awesome.

A few people speculated about EMP. Most of the energy spent slowing the meteor is used to form a plasma shield which does several things. First, it actually insulates the rock and delays the heat transfer to it. Second, the heat in the plasma is high enough to generate lots of light and other radiation. Third, it is electrically active and moving through the earth's magnetic field which means it could generate radio waves, a form of EMP.