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Russian Meteor Likely an Apollo Asteroid Chunk

Posted by Soulskill on from the apollo-always-was-kind-of-a-jerk dept.

astroengine writes "Helped by the extensive coverage of eyewitness cameras, CCTV footage and a fortuitous observation made by the Meteosat-9 weather satellite, Jorge Zuluaga and Ignacio Ferrin of the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, have been able to reconstruct the most likely orbit of the meteoroid that slammed into the atmosphere over the Russian Urals region on Feb. 15. What's more, they know what type of space rock it was — the Chelyabinsk-bound meteoroid originated from an Apollo-class asteroid (PDF). Apollo asteroids are well-known near-Earth asteroids that cross the orbit of Earth. Around 5,200 Apollo asteroids are currently known, the largest being 1866 Sisyphus — a 10 kilometer-wide monster that was discovered in 1972."

11 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Dear Asteroid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nice flying, Apollo.

    - Starbuck

  2. SG-1 by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it wasn't a Gu'ald attack?

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    1. Re:SG-1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Indeed.

    2. Re:SG-1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Do you mean "I'm a pedant"?

  3. EEEP! by MrDoh! · · Score: 4, Funny

    10k wide? And we don't have Bruce Willis on stand by at ALL TIMES!?!?!?

    --
    Waiting for an amusing sig.
    1. Re:EEEP! by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

      So you never want him to close his eyes? Never want him to fall asleep?

      --
      Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  4. I read the title wrong... by Stratus311 · · Score: 5, Funny

    What I read: "Russian Meteor Likely an Apollo Astronaut Chunk"

    1. Re:I read the title wrong... by tragedy · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Open the pod bay doors HAL!"
      "First, you gotta do the truffle shuffle."

  5. Discovered in... by Miletos · · Score: 5, Funny

    "the largest being 1866 Sisyphus — a 10 kilometer-wide monster that was discovered in..."

    WAIT! I KNOW THIS ONE! Is it 1866?

    "...1972."

    oh. okay :(

  6. Ummm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Something's wrong when a 10 KILOMETER wide astroid has 'sisy' in its name, just sayin'.

  7. Re:John Dvorak says it's fake by ozmanjusri · · Score: 3, Funny

    claimed that the video and photos of the impact area showed just a perfect ice hole

    I've heard rumours that John C Dvorak has been described as "just a perfect ice hole" himself on occasion.

    Coincidence? You decide.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."