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Subscribe to RSSTraveling at 33,000 mph, a massive meteor hit the Earth's atmosphere creating a giant shockwave that blew out windows of glass, injuring nearly 1,000 people and creating panic. On the same day, an asteroid half the size of a football field came within 17,000 miles from Earth. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
By Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com
The fireball that exploded over Russia Friday morning provided onlookers with an incredible spectacle, even outshining the sun for a brief period, scientists say.
The meteor exploded just above the city of Chelyabinsk just before 9:30 a.m. local time, damaging hundreds of buildings and injuring more than 1,000 people. The blast probably released about 300 kilotons of energy, sending out a powerful shock wave and lighting up the daytime sky, researchers said.
"This event must have been brighter than the sun, if you were there to watch it," Paul Chodas, a scientist with the Near Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters today. "It's just incredible."
The object that caused the Russian meteor was probably about 50 feet (15 meters) wide and weighed approximately 7,000 tons, said Bill Cooke of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. [See Photos of the Meteor Streaking over Russia]
This space rock exploded 12 to 15 miles (19 to 24 kilometers) above Earth's surface, releasing roughly 15 times as much energy as the atomic bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.
The resulting blast shattered windows and knocked down walls, according to media reports.
Dr. Paul Chodas at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory discussed the asteroid that flew by Earth and the fireball that struck Russia. Choda called it "a huge coincidence."
"When you hear about injuries, those are undoubtedly due to the shockwave," Cooke said.
The fireball hit Earth's atmosphere at about 40,000 mph (64,374 kph) and left a trail 300 miles (483 kilometers) long in the sky, he added.
Although the explosion did shoot fragments of the rock toward the ground, there have been no confirmed reports of recovered pieces of the space rock, Cooke said.
Scientists have a particularly difficult time tracking small asteroids like the one that exploded earlier today because they are so small and dim. The Russian meteor was particularly difficult to spot because it came from the daylight side of the planet. Telescopes can only detect meteors in the dark, Cooke said.
Space rocks like the Russian fireball hit the Earth once every 50 to 100 years, he added.
Most asteroids are loose masses of rock, and NASA experts think this meteor probably fit that description. As the fireball entered the atmosphere, it started to break apart and eventually exploded when the heat generated by its dramatic plunge toward the Earth's surface became too great.
AFP
This video still image shows the smoke trail created by the meteor that exploded over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia on Feb. 15, 2013.
This is the most powerful meteor explosion of its kind since the Tunguska Event 1908, researchers said. The meteor that exploded that year over the Tunguska region of Russia's Siberia was probably 130 feet (40 m) in diameter and flattened 825 square miles (2,137 square km) of forest.
A meteor similar to today's fireball exploded in the air over Indonesia in 2009, but it didn't cause nearly this amount of damage. This most recent meteor explosion was probably four to five times more powerful than the 2009 event, Cooke said.
By coincidence, the Russian fireball exploded on the same day that the 150-foot-wide (45 m) asteroid 2012 DA14 cruised within 17,200 miles (27,000 km) of Earth. 2012 DA14's flyby was the closest by such a large asteroid that scientists have ever known about in advance. The two space rocks that made big news today are completely separate bodies, Cooke and Chodas stressed.
Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter @mirikramer or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
- Huge Russian Meteor Blast is Biggest Since 1908 (Infographic)
- Russian Meteor Track and Detonation Seen From Space | Video
- Russian Meteor Strike Injures Hundreds | Video
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It's funny to me how so many of you talk crap about Jesus Christ/God . The truth is if anything really horrible happens to all of us say like what just happened but on a much bigger scale, ALL of you will ask God for help. It is easier to Condem something you don't understand or are you just scared to find out what a ugly person you really are....by learning about Christ you will see yourself as you are for the first time......scary isn't it to see the real you.....Go ahead say what you will,call me filthy names and spew your ignorance thats what people do when they are scared of the truth or too stupid to think of something intelligent enough for anyone to care about what you have to say.
I personaly don't really care WHAT you or anyone else believes but I'm tired of hearing "oh, that's just your opinion..." or "that's just ignorance talking..." when someone speaks their mind about NOT believing in a god. But it's all right if people say God's praise, or speak their mind about how MUCH they believe and love their GOD. But as soon as someone expresses their OPINION about NOT believing that's when everyone comes out of the wood work to criticize THOSE people, when the TRUTH is BOTH sides just have an OPINION either way. There is ABSOLUTELY NO 100% definitive proof that there IS a God, just as there isn't 100% proof that there ISN'T a god. It's ALL just an opinion either way. Just as you expect people to respect your decision to speak and BELIEVE in GOD, you have to do the same for the people who want to speak their mind about NOT believing in a GOD! It's my feeling that both sides loose all credability when they just blast the other person OPINION reguardless if it was offensive or NOT...
Too bad we can't steer the next one into Iran.
I am so thankful that the scientist were able to provide everyone the info and data before this happened.
What? They didn't, Oh well it must be from climate global warming change.
Great job!
let the old guy in the sky people talk,their funny!
This kind of thing happens once evry 50 to 100 year, where a meteor that size hits Earth??? Come on, this happens about every 5 to 10 years, maybe even less. Most of the larger meteors hit or explode above the ocean and are never heard or seen. There was the one in India in 2009, plus there was one in South America in 2010. Both of those hit in a less populated area but residents described seeing, hearing and feeling the same thing as this one in Russia. This one in South America actually had some of it's larger pieces hit ground. So I don't think this is as quite a rare event as they are making it out to be. Now the meteor that hit Tunguska in 1908, THAT WAS a BIG ONE! That one was a once every 50 to 100 year strike! That leveled the surrounding land for a thousand square miles! Anyone or anything unlucky enough to be underneath it when it exploded would have died instantly from the massive shock wave, and even the people or animals on the out skirts would have likely been killed or at least seriously again from the shock wave AND the falling trees! My guess is that this one in Russia was 100 times smaller than the Tunguska meteor/comet just over 100 years ago...
Eyes of Fire
Ok so a meteor almost hit the Earth..OVER IT!..Can we go back to texting on our Smartphones and Ipads now?
For a mili second I thought we were all in unison as the human race but I guess not..
Yea if a bunch of kindergarten kids and their teachers getting mascacred in Conn and a meteor grazes the Earth isn't enough to gain some perspective on what truely matters on this planet then we as a human race are screwed...
Just think what people in biblical times thought was happening, and told stories around the campfire for years and then finally wrote in down!
Maddow commented on the large number of dashcams in Russia that caught the meteor on video. The reason is that dashcams have become a cottage industry in Russia, because its corrupt insurance system requires actual video evidence (that you didn't cause the accident) before paying any claim.
First the Pope resigns, now this? Is a message being sent from above? Can't be God was busy watching American Idol last night as one of the contestants thanked him.
So now we have had two rocks about 50 feet and 130 feet in the last 100 years. Seems to me scientists have underplayed the threat a little. Who is to say the next one won't hit within 50 years and be larger at around 200 to 300 feet and make it within a couple of miles of the ground and flatten several thousand square miles of humans?
Seems reasonable since Tunguska flattened 816 square miles and was only 130 feet in diameter. A 200 feet diameter meteor could flatten 1500 to 2000 square miles and be equivalent to a 5 to 10 megaton nuclear weapon detonated less than 5 miles high--nearly optimum for damages.
NASA better get busy testing ways to deflect these events using known incoming meteors as asteroidal guinea pigs. And not on the console game Asteroids either.
Write to congress and ask them to increase NASA's budget from 1/2 penny of your tax dollar to 1 penny.
I want to buy a piece of the broken glass from this event. 4x6 will do with a crack from the explosion. Document the glass. Sell it on ebay.
Global warming!!!
i saw a robot on mars drilling bursting rocks i guess they fell on russia