Metioroid hits Russia.

[5292nate]

Rather scary stuff! Meteoroid hits in Russia!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 0Omh7_I8vI

Here's the story from Reuters

MOSCOW—A flaming meteorite plunged to earth in Russia's Ural Mountains Friday, smashing windows and injuring around 500 people.

Amateur videos broadcast on state television showed an object streaking across the sky around 9:20 a.m. local time before bursting into a fireball. Residents in the city of Chelyabinsk, the largest in the affected region, described a shock wave from the meteorite that blew in doors and smashed glass
Reuters

A contrail above an apartment block in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk; Russian officials said a meteorite or a shower of meteorites fell in the area, collapsing one roof and causing more than 100 injuries.

"There was a bright flash and three or four seconds later the building shook as if from an explosion," said a woman who answered the phone at the city administration but declined to give her name. "Many people were cut by glass. We didn't understand what was happening. We thought an airplane had come down."

A meteorite flew across the sky over Russia's Ural Mountains, showering fragments of rock over the area and causing explosions. More than 400 people were injured as the debris fell to the ground, many of them hurt by broken glass. Photo: Associated Press
Asteroid Fly-by

Prior to the unexpected meteorite strike in Russia Friday, scientists had predicted that a separate asteroid would pass by earth, missing by 17,150 miles, in the closest known fly-by for a rock of its size. Read More.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said around 500 people requested medical attention, mostly for cuts. Roughly 100 people were hospitalized with injuries. Around 300 buildings were damaged by the blast, which blew a hole in the walls of a metals factory in Chelyabinsk, approximately 1,500 kilometers east of Moscow.

"There's no major destruction," Chelyabinsk regional Governor Mikhail Yuyevich wrote on his blog. "The main task now is to maintain heat in the apartments and offices where the glass was smashed."

President Vladimir Putin ordered the emergency situations minister to provide help for those affected.

Search teams are looking for the remains of the asteroid. State television showed one burning crater, saying it could be the landing site of the meteorite.

[buzz456]

This isn't the one that's going to go by at 1:24 CST today.

[5292nate]

Oops! It's still disturbing!

[5292nate]

That sure is one WEIRD coincidence!

[Griphos]

Probably not a coincidence. More massive objects of the sort about to pass us do entrain other smaller objects as well. Any such smaller objects under the gravitational field of the asteroid could easily have their trajectories affected by the earth's mass, I'd think. Just a thought. There was a big one that hit Siberia in 1908. The cosmos is picking on Russia!

[5292nate]

That's exactly what my Grandmother said!

[buzz456]

Grandmother's are wise. Just ask my wife.

[NDORFN]

You know what else is a coincidence?... today is Galileo Galilei's birthdy.

[5292nate]

That's it! We're gonna die in our sleep!

[Toripony]

Probably not a coincidence. More massive objects of the sort about to pass us do entrain other smaller objects as well. Any such smaller objects under the gravitational field of the asteroid could easily have their trajectories affected by the earth's mass, I'd think.

That's what I said, too! Glad to know I'm not alone in doubting the completely honesty of the scientific community sometimes.

[g_nash]

Probably not a coincidence. More massive objects of the sort about to pass us do entrain other smaller objects as well. Any such smaller objects under the gravitational field of the asteroid could easily have their trajectories affected by the earth's mass, I'd think.

That's what I said, too! Glad to know I'm not alone in doubting the completely honesty of the scientific community sometimes.

True, there are times when it may appear that we're not told all . The problem is that in many instances observers really don't have enough data to give accurate reports.A good recent example would be "99942 Apophis" ( 2004 MN ) take a look at the timeline in this wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_MN4 and we see that even after the January pass gave good data re: mass and probable reflectivity there are still large gaps in what is known,and they are still not sure the about keyhole

Then we have C/2012 S1 (ISON) at the end of this year,is it alone ? a vid on youtube says it's not . Best to check the good amateur sites (IceInSpace ) or NASA and compare.
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