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Large-ish Meteor Hits Earth... But No One Notices (discovery.com)
According to data released by the Fireball and Bolide Reports page of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, a large meteor exploded far off the coast of Brazil on February 6, 2016. The meteor was the largest atmospheric impact recorded since the famous Chelyabinsk bolide that exploded over Russia in 2013. Although the Feb 6 meteor didn't cause any structural damage, the meteor unleashed an energy equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT exploding instantaneously.
Whoosh!
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Back in the 80s, I seem to recall wire services carrying reports of a "mushroom cloud" over the ocean. It was reported by commercial pilots, probably reliable witnesses not inclined to make up things for jokes.
Speculation was undersea volcano, unusual thunderstorm convection, and impact. I don't recall them following up on it, and I think it remained a mystery... let's see if I can track this down in a few minutes before hitting submit....
Oh wow, it was easier than I thought it would be. Here's the original story.
It was the 3rd google hit for "pilots spot mushroom cloud". Would that all my searches were that easy.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
East of Java by some 23000 mi. back in the late 1800s. No one noticed that was caused by a falling rock, hurled by the FURRY OF GOD!
Someone noticed, or we would be reading about it here...
Wonder what would have happened had it been headed for a major city anywhere in the world - New York, Beijing, Cape Town, Delhi, Vienna, et al?
out of the entire invasion force.
Then the government would blame the terrorists and ask for more power to ignore human rights
Well, first off, we only know about it after it hits - it is going 30km/s, after all. These are too small to detect all of them.
For an example of the effects: The Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 exploded with an energy of about 15 kilotons of TNT. So this is a tiny bit smaller than that, with no radiation. Direct deaths from the Hiroshima bomb (ignoring radiation deaths), about 80,000 out of 350,000 population. About 70% of the city's buildings were destroyed, and another 7% severely damaged.
So, to translate that to a direct hit on New York: about 1.8 million dead, all of downtown gone. If you find that hard to believe, consider the effects of 2 buildings collapsing on 9/11 - it destroyed a much larger footprint than just that of the building, and did a very complete job of destruction. We just do not build to withstand asteroids, just don't let them hit you...
while (sig==sig) sig=!sig;
When the planet's surface is 60% water the meteors are going to hit water 60% of the time. As a practical point of view most of the planet is devoid of human life when you take into account the areas like Siberia, the deserts and all the water, that the odds of an meteor hitting a populated area is staggeringly unlikely.
Has Fox blamed it on Obama yet?
The Chelyabinsk meteor was over 30 times more powerful than this one, and it did hit directly over a big city. But nobody was killed. It takes a much, much bigger rock to make it through the atmosphere.
If it takes military technology to hear a 13 kiloton meteor go off in the ocean, then we have finally found what we need to hear a tree fall in the forest.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
..and no one heard it, did it make a noise?
Gently reply
Hits earth means it touches the water or land. Atmospheric burn up is NOT a "hit".
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Yes it is. Why would only solids and liquids qualify as Earth? And if the atmosphere is not part of Earth, then part of what is it?
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
The Internet has quite reliable sources of news. You just have to figure out which ones they are. Otherwise, it is sort of a crapshoot.
Hint: The decent ones usually, but not always, make you pay to look at them, and people will actually pay money to read them.
That's why it is called a meteor and not a meteorite.
it fell in the Atlantic close to Brazil. Now, imagine if it had exploded on the water and caused a tsunami. Brazil was in the middle of Carnaval, where most people go for the coast to celebrate. That would be devastating.
"life is a joke, and someone is laughing at me"
According to quantum theory the answer is both yes and no.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
To be honest, this is one of those rare times where the word "literally" appears to have been used correctly.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Since the Spanish Meteor Network started to work full steam, each month or so there have been reports in the news of large fireballs brigtening the night sky over the Iberian peninsula. And every few years about really big superbolide ones.
Even when every station is able to detect them only up to 500km away at best. the network reports 500 bolides every year, the lastest one this same week
The sky is falling, but nobody is looking.
the meteor unleashed an energy equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT exploding instantaneously.
As opposed to the other kind of TNT explosion that takes aaaaages.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
The Chelyabinsk Meteor made it through the atmosphere. One of its parts for instance hit Lake Chebarkul; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chebarkul
I mean, the one that nearly trashed Chelyabinsk was the most recorded bolide to date, but this one was in the middle of the South Atlantic.
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
Most would equate exploding with instantaneously without the explicit reference. However it is carnival in Brasil, so perhaps that slows things down?
A really large block of explosive does not all actualiy explode at once, so it starts to come apart before it is all consumed. That means that the real explosions would be much less powerful. What they mean is that they used the rough calculation that assumed it was instantanious.
To be honest, this is one of the rare times where you are literally correct :).
CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
NYC and new yuckers being destroyed? Don't tease me like that.
I'm still trying to figure out how to take that remark. ;-) Should I take it literally?
"So long and thanks for all the fish."