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.)

Comments

related to 2014RC?

[jjeffries]

Any relation to the asteroid that got well up into our pearthonal space earlier today?

Re:related to 2014RC?

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe, these asteroids that we detect are usually followed by a "tail" of smaller asteroids and those are too small to detect but they are the ones that actualy make it through the atmosphere.

Coincidence? Or conspiracy?

[mveloso]

Like college age kids, meteors seem to always travel in packs. The Chelyabinsk one was said not to be related to 2012Da/367943 Duende, but it sure is a hell of a coincidence that close flying meteors have an "unrelated friend" that impacts the Earth.

Maybe we got the ugly friend?

Re:Wasn't a meteorite

[meglon]

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. For an object to move that fast, yet make this small of a crater, the object would have to be very small (maybe baseball sized), and most likely have a very steep entry angle (>75 degrees)... but it's very possible.

Back in the 60's/70's when people actually started thinking about collisions, and considering the damage they could do (as well as how to possibly eliminate a threat like Project Icarus from MIT), one book listed one of the worst case scenarios is a large, very fast mover hitting the oceans, as not only would it cause massive tsunami, it's bow shock could push both the atmosphere and the ocean water out of the way, and deliver a direct strike to the crust at a thinner point cause all sorts of problems.

Re:Taste like chicken?

[jc42]

Do dinosaurs taste like chicken?

They ought to. Recent research has shown that chickens are the closest living relative of T. Rex.

Really? Do you have a reference for the research?

If it's true that T.rex is closer to chickens than to pheasants, peafowl, and other Phasianinae, it would mean that the Phasianinae family dates back to before the K-T disaster. This would sorta imply a major reorg of the Therapsids, as well as the entire Aves class.

So it's be interesting to read about the research on this discovery.