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phi108

Meteor over Russia

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A meteorite caused a great kaboom over Russia's Ural Mountains this morning, as it broke up at extreme speed causing a bright burst of light. Fragments reportedly hit the ground in a sparsely populated area.
EDIT: Update, AP says there are ~400 injuries and rising and a factory roof collapsed, most injuries are from broken glass, and other effects of the pressure wave, which was heard over ~200 square miles:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_METEORITE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130215

Several Youtube videos show the entry and boom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZxXYscmgRg

Turn DOWN your volume:
youtube.com/watch?v=b0cRHsApzt8


Edit: Apparently it is not the scheduled asteroid that will pass past Earth today, it's too early:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/asteroid-da14-facts-information-flyby_n_2689679.html

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Found a better shockwave video, with some damage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0cFOIoITW4

It sure is nice having cameras everywhere and on every car in Russia.

EDIT: Whoa, judging from the Tunguska damage, I'd say it had to be much larger, or maybe a similar sized meteor traveling at many times the speed could up the power in the shockwave.

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That's not by chance the one that everyone was talking about like nasa said it'd orbit closer than the moon etc?

The 2nd youtube where you see it enter and burn up is terrifying. I'd be like, welp nuclear war just started. What if the powers that be in russia misinterpreted it that way; what if they assumed USA fired on them then retaliated by firing back at USA with all their nukes?

I wonder the best economic strategy for someone who caught something epic like that on camera. Like I suspect many news outfits would like to buy that footage, possibly for a million bucks or something instead of putting it free on youtube. If I recorded that I'd probably try to hord it until I could sell it; not sure what it might be worth. If it is worth a million then those youtubers really missed out by uploading it for free I assume.

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gggmork said:

I'd be like, welp nuclear war just started. What if the powers that be in russia misinterpreted it that way; what if they assumed USA fired on them then retaliated by firing back at USA with all their nukes?

Only a drooling idiot would or could confuse a meteor with an icbm. The comparison is not even close.

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Technician said:

If this were a couple of decades ago, they may have shot back at the U.S. in retaliation.

Not a chance. For the record first of all, icbms have parabolic flight trajectories and essentially meet their target almost straight down. They do not cruise parallel to the ground at such low altitudes at flat angles because they would be thousands of feet below their detonation point among other things.

Secondly and most importantly an actual launch would be detected as soon as it crossed the arctic circle if not sooner. I'm not sure what the actual trajectory the meteor took was, but I can assure you that an actual launch from north dakota to moscow or anywhere else is pretty well mapped out and understood not only today, but 50 years ago as well.

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gggmork said:

If I recorded that I'd probably try to hord it until I could sell it; not sure what it might be worth.

Unfortunately, it would be worth nearly nothing besides it's sheer awesomeness, because (as said) nearly every driver in Russia installs dash-cams in their cars due to deplorable road conditions, corrupt police, and terrible insurance.

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I hope the fragments aren't containing a sort of sentient metal that can be used to make advanced weapons and vehicles in blink of an eye. The Russians might put billions into their space program to send out more people to the Moon in search of this mysterious substance.

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HWGuy said:

I hope the fragments aren't containing a sort of sentient metal that can be used to make advanced weapons and vehicles in blink of an eye. The Russians might put billions into their space program to send out more people to the Moon in search of this mysterious substance.

Oh please. As if the US government wouldn't take that course of action if the meteorite fell on their territory.
Ever since the Kennedy assassination the citizens have been lied to.

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Reading news before work brought me this (Polish version) and a few commentators, trying to be funny, connected this with the main topic ("...devoured magnets and attracted a meteor. There are no limits to Russian men"). Also, no comment on the naive 00:34 in the video... ;-)

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gggmork said:

What if the powers that be in russia misinterpreted it that way; what if they assumed USA fired on them then retaliated by firing back at USA with all their nukes?

They'd first have to ask for their warheads to be returned. :P

Following the dissolution of the Soviet empire, an unknown number of warheads were handed over to the US for safekeeping to prevent them from falling into the hands of rogue states and terrorists.

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Wow! It's amazing that a meteor was over Russia and it must have been a scary moment over there. I hope everyone who was injured will be OK.

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The dash cam and camera phone videos about this are awesome. People's reactions are immensely interesting. Technology ftw. :)

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