Russian meteor blast injures at least 1,000 people

[SilentPanda]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/15/world/...html?hpt=hp_c1

A meteor streaked through the skies above Russia's Urals region Friday morning, before exploding with a flash and boom that shattered glass in buildings and left about 1,000 people hurt, state media said.

The number of injured has continued to rise through the day as new reports come in from across a swath of central Russia.

As of late afternoon local time, the Interior Ministry said about 1,000 people had been hurt, including more than 200 children, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency said.

Most of those hurt are in the Chelyabinsk region, the news agency said. The vast majority of injuries are not thought to be serious.

http://www.today.com/video/today/50820935#50820935

[SandboxGeneral]

I heard about this on NPR this morning. I was half asleep at the time and thought I heard it was a meteor and had to wait for the recap before confirming I heard what I thought I heard.

That had to be scary watching that come in!

I also thought, geez, not again! I think a larger meteor struck back in 1908 - Tunguska event.

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

The videos I have seen are fascinating. If anyone sees any HD/cinema quality videos, please post references. A flood of cell-phone shots are appearing that are quite remarkable, but, it might be the case that someone had a professional quality camera pointed in the right direction.

The shockwave must have been pretty strong to collapse that factory wall. Not exactly Tunguska, but, scary all the same.

[snberk103]

At this point I think it more accurate to call it an unconfirmed meteorite.... I've seen a photo of hole in ice from the area that they believe as caused by a piece reaching the earth.

This site has some good video links ... and the photo I was talking about above ...

The 2nd video is the "short version" of what happened. Further down - #14 as I write this - there is a colour video of the inside of an office at the time.

The 4th video is a short video that shows how bright and how fast that sucker was.

If you only have a few minutes, watch those 3 clips to get a really good feeling of what happened.

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by snberk103

At this point I think it more accurate to call it an unconfirmed meteorite....

Why unconfirmed?

[Peace]

Originally Posted by SilentPanda

Why unconfirmed?

They aren't sure if it hit the ground.

"a meteor that survives its passage through the earth's atmosphere such that part of it strikes the ground. More than 90 percent of meteorites are of rock, while the remainder consist wholly or partly of iron and nickel."

[bradl]

Originally Posted by snberk103

At this point I think it more accurate to call it an unconfirmed meteorite.... I've seen a photo of hole in ice from the area that they believe as caused by a piece reaching the earth.

This site has some good video links ... and the photo I was talking about above ...

The 2nd video is the "short version" of what happened. Further down - #14 as I write this - there is a colour video of the inside of an office at the time.

The 4th video is a short video that shows how bright and how fast that sucker was.

If you only have a few minutes, watch those 3 clips to get a really good feeling of what happened.

Great find!

I'm awestruck by that. Completely awestruck. I have a friend who lives in Chelyabinsk that I'm trying to get hold of, but still, for what happened in those videos to be 300km away, that is just amazing and shocking.

BL.

[SandboxGeneral]

One thing I noticed and am astonished about is how long it took for the shockwaves to reach the ground after it flew by. Certainly much longer than when a fighter jet flies by at much lower altitude.

[SilentPanda]

These are asteroids... we're all gonna die.



But probably due to not asteroids.

[SandboxGeneral]

Originally Posted by SilentPanda

These are asteroids... we're all gonna die.

YouTube: video

But probably due to not asteroids.

That was wild. My cat was in great fear. He kept trying to get on top of the MBP to get a closer look at the animation. Maybe it wasn't fear and that he just wanted to play with the moving asteroids. Seriously though, that was cool.

[Mac'nCheese]

How soon before the people who were by the blast get their super powers?

[whooleytoo]

Imagine what could have happened if this occurred back during the Cold War. Someone gets a telephoned report of a vapour trail, a huge fireball and a very loud bang in Southern USSR, and decides to push the button before it's too late...

[SilentPanda]

Originally Posted by whooleytoo

Imagine what could have happened if this occurred back during the Cold War. Someone gets a telephoned report of a vapour trail, a huge fireball and a very loud bang in Southern USSR, and decides to push the button before it's too late...

There's a few checks in place even then fortunately. Heck they almost did once...