The Most Violent Objects in the Universe (Weekend Feature)
The Search for the Missing "Dark Galaxies" of the Universe

NASA on Russian Meteor Explosion: "We Can Expect an Event of this Magnitude Every 100 Years"





"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface and in this case there were probably some large ones." The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia. The meteor entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 mph (18 kilometers per second). The energy released by the impact was in the hundreds of kilotons. The trajectory of the meteor was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, which hours later made its flyby of Earth, making it a completely unrelated object. The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia.



Preliminary information indicates that the meteor was not related to asteroid 2012 DA14. The meteor, which was about one-third the diameter of asteroid 2012 DA14, was brighter than the sun. Its trail was visible for about 30 seconds, so it was a grazing impact through the atmosphere.


The Daily Galaxy via


I'm wondering why NASA's so desperate to separate this event from the asteroid passing. On the day the asteroid passed, every single headline from NASA and other agencies made a strong point of stating that it was not related to the meteor strike. It was as though the close passing of the asteroid was a minor happening, hardly worth nothing. Why such a big deal? Was NASA embarrassed perhaps for not realising that asteroids are often accompanied by other debris? Heck, maybe someone should remind them that S..T happens!

by the way, did anyone notice that that a meteor also struck Cuba on the same day? Smaller, I admit, but surely worth our attention.

If the asteroid passes from north to south and the meteor fell from east to west, it is difficult to see how they could have been from the same object.

Unless, of course, the meteor suddenly decided to do a U-turn.

And since when are asteroids accompanied by debris?

in Ukrainian broadcasting (radioera FM) one from hearers says at ether that this meteorite is intrigues of Americans (Pentagon).
He was presents as high range officer of military investigations.

Anyone who claims these two objects are related is simply misinformed, or ignoring the information at hand. Anyone who claims this was anything other than a natural occurrence is an idiot brainwashed by sensationalistic, media induced paranoia. NASA has said as much as it has about the two objects not being related because inept members of the media continue to incessantly ask if they were related; completely ignoring both already published statements and the science involved in hopes of drawing attention through ignorantly repeating questions already asked. Again, unrealistic, moronic sensationalism at work. The saddest part about it is that no matter what the truth, no matter what the data says, a certain subset of people will insist on unrealistic conspiracy theories, and will continue to ask the same questions which have already been asked in hopes of attention, because people are, for lack of a better explanation, loud and stupid.

Oh, and by the way, meteorites fall all the time. Unless people or property receive damage, who cares? It's about as newsworthy as a light rain. The Cuban event was much smaller, caused no damage, and was not nearly as striking in magnitude or as well documented as the Russian event (there was another in California as well). The only difference is that news agencies realize people have an interest in them for the moment, and are capitalizing on that interest by reporting them. For the media, attention means money because more attention means advertisement time is more valuable. It's still sensationalism, but if it gets more people looking at the sky and instills more interest in science, maybe, just maybe, something good can come from it.

Thanks AC for your attempt at serving up some reality.
It makes me feel a little better knowing that some people are paying attention.

Sadly an historical event and OPORTUNITY was missed with this asteroid fallen in Russia. In return of measuring everything about it for future better predict another asteroid falling on Earth and what the damages will be, there were only stupid statements on TV made by almost-russian-pressidents telling that it was a US conspiracy and they`ve shut it down with russian missiles...We really need to know the exact size, speed weight , entrance angle and everything else , if possible composition. Instead the poor asteroid has fallen in the worst place possible for science, making all as unaccessible as the Tunguska one...

I think there were plenty of observations, and that Russian scientists as well as others can be trusted to gather as much data as possible......

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment


Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment



Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.


Post a comment

Your Information
