Meteorite Explodes Over Russia, Panic Spreads

By Jesus Diaz on at

A meteorite has just exploded over Russia. This doesn't feel good when you know that a 150-foot asteroid is about to fly by Earth — and you read about the actual effects of an impact if astronomers' calculations are wrong. 250 people have been injured, according to the BBC. The videos we are collecting are incredible.

What's more incredible: unconfirmed reports say that an air defence unit fired a missile as the meteor entered Russian airspace at supersonic speeds, shattering it to pieces. I find this hard to believe, as I doubt their air defence had the time to detect and target an object that appeared out of nowhere, from space. There's also one single trail. If a missile actually hit anything, there would be multiple trails following the debris.


According to witnesses, cellphones stopped working and windows were blown out as the meteor exploded in the air. Apparently, about 250 people have been reported injured so far because of falling glasses and other minor accidents. You can hear windows being obliterated in some of the videos.




Update: In fact, the European Space Agency say their experts "confirm there is no link between meteor incidents in Russia and Asteroid 2012DA14 flyby today".


Latest update: The Russian Academy of Sciences has estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000 mph, shattering about 18-32 miles above ground.




Another view of an intersection illuminated by the meteorite's fire trail


The complete fall from another angle


The meteorite trail


The sound of the meteorite




The final explosion looks like the beginning of a nuclear detonation


Another spectacular shot


Meteorite taking over some dude on the road

Additional reporting by Kyle Wagner.