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Asteroid Explodes Over Sudan
radioweather writes "A recently discovered
Apollo Asteroid, 2008 TC3,
exploded over Sudan at about 1046 EDT on October 7, 2008, according to
astronomer Tim Spahr of Harvard University 2008 TC3 was discovered on Monday by an observer at the Mt Lemmon
Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. 2008 TC3 is notable in that it is
the first Asteroid of its size that was identified before impact and tracking it
put the entire
Spaceguard tracking system to an extreme test. TC3 is estimated to be only two to five meters in diameter but
exploded with the force of a one kiloton of explosive power." We mentioned the asteroid last on Monday, when it was only at a 99.8 percent chance of colliding with Earth.
More comprehensive information from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3
It's news because this is the first time we detected one before it hit and were able to track its descent.
upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
Because the asteroid was itentified and tracked days before it entered the atmosphere. For the first time, astronomers were able to predict the exact time and location the asteroid would strike (well, would have stuck if it hadn't exploded in the atmosphere). Also, what we see as shooting stars are little more than grains of sand, this was more like a good sized boulder and would have made a noticable fireball as it tracked across the sky.
You seriously over-estimate the level of technology available in Sudan.
(And the number of people per square mile, if it's in northern Sudan... It's quite possible there were only a few people within a hundred miles.)
http://www.eumetsat.int/groups/public/documents/image/img_homepage_asteroid_2008.jpg