Asteroid the 'Size of a Minivan' Exploded Over California

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Asteroid the 'Size of a Minivan' Exploded Over California

Posted by Unknown on Monday April 23, 2012 @04:08PM from the alien-plot-to-assasinate-ken-grossman-foiled dept.

astroengine writes, quoting Discovery: "The source of loud 'booms' accompanied by a bright object traveling through the skies of Nevada and California on Sunday morning has been confirmed: it was a meteor. A big one. It is thought to have been a small asteroid that slammed into the atmosphere at a speed of 15 kilometers per second (33,500 mph), turning into a fireball, delivering an energy of 3.8 kilotons of TNT as it broke up over California's Sierra Nevada mountains. Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, classified it as a 'big event.' 'I am not saying there was a 3.8 kiloton explosion on the ground in California,' Cooke told Spaceweather.com. 'I am saying that the meteor possessed this amount of energy before it broke apart in the atmosphere. (The map) shows the location of the atmospheric breakup, not impact with the ground.' Interestingly, this event was bigger than asteroid 2008 TC3 that exploded over the skies of Sudan in 2008 after being detected before it hit."

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Exploding Minivans by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-23 16:12 · Score: 5, Funny

Always said the damn things were dangerous
1. Re:Exploding Minivans by EdIII · 2012-04-23 18:12 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It wasn't a minivan though... remember this thing was clocked at 33,000 mph. When's the last time you saw a minivan even doing the speed limit?
minivan by quenda · 2012-04-23 16:17 · Score: 5, Funny

For all the foreigners saying "WTF is a minivan?", it is a large family vehicle, smaller than a mini-bus, like a VW Transporter (Combi) , about 10 hogsheads or 0.00001 Libraries of Congress.
1. Re:minivan by dutchwhizzman · 2012-04-23 17:12 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  For US residents that have trouble understanding metrics: it was traveling at 3 hours walking per second, considering you wouldn't stop once for fast food for those three hours. In those three hours, the meteor would have circled the earth four times at the speed of entry
  
  --
  I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
2. Re:minivan by azalin · 2012-04-23 19:00 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  What is this "walking" you are talking about? Clearly you can not mean traveling by foot because not sane person would go that far without using a car. It would be utter nonsense to believe a normal human being could archive such a feat without collapsing.
3. Re:minivan by Anonymous Coward · 2012-04-23 20:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  For all the Americans saying "WTF is an asteroid?", it is a big space rock made by Jebus 6000 years ago. It has as much blow-uppy power as millions of pounds of dynamite (the calorie equivalent of a billion gallons of Extreme HotPocket PizzaHut Lard Thins), and, if it were to hit California, could result in a a postponed airing of Dancing With the Stars. To prevent this, we must pray for an end to the liberal gay marriage agenda targeting our children in the public schools of Obamamerica, and make sure every patriot has a gun to send future asteroids back across the border before their lazy anchor meteorites take our jobs and food stamps. God bless the troops!
  Thankyouverymuch.
The truth! by slashmydots · 2012-04-23 16:17 · Score: 5, Funny

This stinks of a coporate cover up. They don't want you to know this but it was actually a Toyota Prius with a hybrid nuclear/tachyon engine that accelerated out of control in the year 2052 due to a software glitch and traveled back in time and...well you can pretty much put the rest together.
Transformers by simoncpu+was+here · 2012-04-23 16:21 · Score: 5, Funny

The Autobots have arrived!
Re:Can't we detect something that size? by Osgeld · 2012-04-23 17:26 · Score: 3, Funny

who says it wasnt tracked the whole 3 seconds it came into our range and blew up?
Re:How long... by azalin · 2012-04-23 19:08 · Score: 3, Funny

"Minivan from Space - bid starts at 20 000 $
Thats right the minivan you heard in the news. A unique, once in a lifetime opportunity to own a piece of history and space.
Slight signs of usage from entering the earths atmosphere make it even more authentic" This is your chance to buy the Minivan from space[tm]
Chatting on a cellphone by Hognoxious · 2012-04-23 19:18 · Score: 4, Funny

Typical minivan driver, didn't even see a planet that was, well, the size of a planet before it was too late.

--
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Re:SI unit by dominious · 2012-04-23 21:46 · Score: 4, Funny

Finally I get it! The size of the asteroid was about one quarter the size of a nanoWales!
Re:mini by operagost · 2012-04-24 01:59 · Score: 4, Funny

Imagine if it had been a 1982 3/4 ton GMC conversion van with a desert mural on the side! If the van's a big rock, don't try to knock!

--

Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Re:How convenient. by Muad'Dave · 2012-04-24 05:12 · Score: 3, Funny

"few tonnes of iron in orbit is worth a fortune"
no it isn't.
Yes, it is, if it stays in orbit.
"Dear Mr. <World_Leader>,
I have a large chunk of iron orbiting the planet, and it would be a real shame if it were to accidentally drop on your capitol city. How would you like to invest in a little insurance against that?"

--
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.