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Russian Meteor Largest In a Century
gbrumfiel writes "A meteor that exploded over Russia's Chelyabinsk region this morning was the largest recorded object to strike the earth in more than a century, Nature reports. Infrasound data collected by a network designed to watch for nuclear weapons testing suggests that today's blast released hundreds of kilotons of energy. That would make it far more powerful than the nuclear weapon tested by North Korea just days ago, and the largest rock to strike the earth since a meteor broke up over Siberia's Tunguska river in 1908. Despite its incredible power, the rock evaded detection by astronomers. Estimates show it was likely only 15 meters across — too small to be seen by networks searching for near earth asteroids."
Today's meteor event came a day after California scientists proposed a system to vaporize asteroids that threaten Earth. Of course, the process needs to be started when the asteroid is still tens of millions of kilometers away; there's no chance to shoot down something that's already arrived.
At first blush, that would seem to reduce the usefulness significantly....
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
In USA, prisoners smash rocks. In Soviet Russia, rocks smashes prisoners!
I thought the same when I red that.
Proverbs 21:19
this thing was 15 meters across, jet black, and moving like a bat out of hell. To paraphrase people that look for near earth objects "Its invisible until it hits the atmosphere."
The sad fact of the matter is, no matter how much money you pour into programs to locate and track near earth objects, there is no way to detect objects of this size and velocity with any degree of reliability.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
"Meteorite: A meteor that survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground."
The kiloton unit came into use to describe the explosive energy of the early nuclear bombs. A one kiloton nuclear explosion released the same energy as a 1000 ton (kiloton) TNT explosion. For people in the 1950's who were used to reading about 500 lb. and 1000 lb bombs used in WWII, it provided a useful mental scale.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
If we all posted AC, that might confuchsia.
"Slow down, Cowboy! It has been 3 years, 7 months and 26 days since you last successfully posted a comment."