Apparent Meteorite Hits Managua, Nicaragua, Leaving Crater But No Injuries

A wire report from AFP says that an explosion heard in Managua last night, and a 40-foot crater evident today, are evidence that the city was the impact site for a small meteorite that struck Saturday night. The photos are not very exciting at a glance, which is a good thing, considering that a dirt crater and no injuries is probably the best outcome if a meteorite strikes the city where you live. From the article: The meteorite appeared to have hurtled into a wooded area near the airport around midnight Saturday, its thunderous impact felt across the capital. The hit was so large that it registered on the instruments Strauss’ organization uses to size up earthquakes. “You can see two waves: first, a small seismic wave when the meteorite hit Earth, and then another stronger one, which is the impact of the sound,” he said. Government officials and experts visited the impact site on Sunday. One of them, William Martínez, said it was not yet clear if the meteorite burned up completely or if it had been blasted into the soil. “You can see mirror-like spots on the sides of the crater from where the meteorite power-scraped the walls,” Martínez said. (The same news, in slightly shorter form, from the AP.)

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[retroworks]

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Meteoroid, Meteor, Meteorite

[Rootbear]

Managua was hit by a meteoroid. If anyone saw the bright light of its fall to earth, they saw a meteor. If any part of it survived, that's meteorite. Thank you.

Re:Wasn't a meteorite

[Anonymous Coward]

A light trail, or fireball, comes about from the object heating up and burning off from the friction of hitting the atmosphere. An object moving fast enough will form a bow shock that will punch through the atmosphere and minimize friction

The vast majority of the heating and a large part of the resulting fireball and trail comes from compressional heating of air... that exact bow shock you are talking about is what is responsible for that. Basically all of the air in front that piles up because it doesn't move out of the way fast enough compresses and heats very quickly to the point of being a plasma, and can include significant light emission.