So much for the "near miss" with the asteroid?

[TimtheEnchanter]

http://news.yahoo.com/possible-meteor-shower-reported-eastern-russia-052833588.html

[FlyingCarcass]

Different chunk of space rock.

Here's a video of the meteor:
http://youtu.be/k2BYqLpHKT0

[TimtheEnchanter]

Definitely not the whole 'roid anyhow, but the timing of this is hard to ignore. A fragment from the same asteroid though?

It'll be interesting if tomorrow we find out that instead of one asteroid, there's a bunch of smaller objects traveling along that orbit. Earth's gravity might have fractured it.

Another vid. http://news.yahoo.com/video/russian-meteorite-caught-tape-injuries-071827265.html

[FatherXmas]

Bad Astronomy blog on the event from Slate.  While the fireball was impressive the sonic boom when it finally reached the ground was tremendous.  It contains lots of links and embedded videos.

And it's unlikely related.  The asteroid that's passing is on a south to north trajectory.  This, based on where the sun was it looked to be going east to west.

[blackjak]

You know, I  begin to suspect people won't even care until one of these close-passers takes out their cell's satellite or makes their tv channels go away.
Also, I  wonder about the timinng of last weeks further evidence that the crater in the Gulf of Mexico was the dinosaur killer.

[JaguarX]

You know, I  begin to suspect people won't even care until one of these close-passers takes out their cell's satellite or makes their tv channels go away.
Also, I  wonder about the timinng of last weeks further evidence that the crater in the Gulf of Mexico was the dinosaur killer.

Of course.
Near destruction of the earth? meh who cares.
Extinction? Boring
Potnetial destruction of entire cities? *yawn*
Astroid takes out Real Housewives of Atlanta?- ZOFG!!! WHHHHHYYYYY!!! This is cruelty!

[eabrace]

Aaron Williams has a poster for that.

[FatherXmas]

The one in Russia was likely the size of an office desk.

Now this is an interesting video of someone just parking somewhere (once he cleared a parking space) and leaving his car alone.  His dash cam (does everyone have a dash cam in Russia?  a way to document traffic accidents?) gets interesting at around 4:30 but it takes until 7:00 till the boom (booms) come.

[FlyingCarcass]

(does everyone have a dash cam in Russia?  a way to document traffic accidents?)

According to a comment I read, that's the reason why. Apparently there's also a tax incentive or something.

[TimtheEnchanter]

According to a comment I read, that's the reason why. Apparently there's also a tax incentive or something.

I'm sure the idea of recording every single conversation that people have in their car is a convenient bonus too.

Amazing how strong the blast was, even at such a great distance. Assuming the blast came from the brightest flash, it was about 30 miles away from that parking lot.

[Aggelakis]

Now this is an interesting video of someone just parking somewhere (once he cleared a parking space) and leaving his car alone.  His dash cam (does everyone have a dash cam in Russia?  a way to document traffic accidents?) gets interesting at around 4:30 but it takes until 7:00 till the boom (booms) come.

I giggled when the car alarms went off. Further evidence of how powerful it was.

[dwturducken]

The one over Russia was the size of a motorhome, roughly. The Asteroid that passed between the GPS satellites and the weather and communication satellites was about the size of a ten story building. The Tongusca object was estimated to be about the size of an old VW Beetle. The Chicxulub object was the size of a medium sized town.

That said, Russia is a bit like Montana. It's vast, with localized pockets of population, except on the western quarter or so. If this had happened over a major metropolis, we wouldn't be having casual discussions; we would be sending aid.

[Kuriositys Kat]

The Russian meteor and 2012 DA14 are in no way related  courtesy of http://www.spaceweather.com/ and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-061 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-062

The other bit of good news 2012 DA14 missed the satellites on orbit which is very good news for all of those that rely on them for navigation, weather and even the reality*shudder* programmes.

Not mentioning the other functions that they are useful for *ahem* information gathering *ahem*

[JWBullfrog]

The Batallion's opening shots. Where, I say, where are the Shivans?

[blackjak]

Heard somewhere that the dashcams are the publics only recourse in corrupt courts.

[SerialBeggar]

does everyone have a dash cam in Russia?

From what I've read, there is apparently rampant insurance fraud in Russia.  Commercial vehicles, in particular, are required to have dash cams.  And I guess, the general populous have been getting them too.  As a side effect, that's why there are so many crash videos available from Russia.

I have been inspired to shop for a dash cam.  Unfortunately, the ones at Amazon all have such poor reviews.

[Victoria Victrix]

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzyalt.livejournal.com%2F722930.html&act=url

http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/02/meteorite-like-object-strikes-cuba-as-asteroid-buzzes-earth-after-russia-meteorite-strike/

What will strike us is the utter lack of reaction from the Russian drivers.  Keep in mind that until the late 1980s, expressing emotion to the wrong people could result in you taking a long unplanned vacation to a labor camp. Or worse. So culturally there is that happening. I mean I'm sure that this is being discussed, and so on, but in a different way. IIRC in Russia you would be in private with your confidantes, versus looking for the nearest TV camera for your 15 mins of fame on reality TV
If that makes sense. Over there for a longest time, attracting attention to yourself could be a lethally bad career choice
Versus here where it's a path to 'fame' in a sense.  The saying about the nail that sticks up gets hammered down is a very real thing there, versus over here.

Still I get a kick out of the guy with the cam in the parking lot of what is obviously an industrial building when the shockwave hits.  Clearly going "WHAT THE FRAK WAS THAT?" as all the car alarms go off.

[TimtheEnchanter]

If that makes sense. Over there for a longest time, attracting attention to yourself could be a lethally bad career choice Versus here where it's a path to 'fame' in a sense.  The saying about the nail that sticks up gets hammered down is a very real thing there, versus over here.

Adding even more to the fear behind all of this: It wasn't very long ago, less than a decade by some accounts, that Russia was still running on its hair-trigger policy for nuclear defense. North Korea just shook their sabre at the world recently, and then suddenly there's this object shooting through the sky that ends with a blinding flash and an earth-shattering kaboom. I'm sure the cold war is still fresh in Russia's memory, and some argue it never even ended. Just imagine what was probably going through everyone's mind.

[Tenzhi]

Of course.
Near destruction of the earth? meh who cares.
Extinction? Boring
Potnetial destruction of entire cities? *yawn*
Astroid takes out Real Housewives of Atlanta?- ZOFG!!! WHHHHHYYYYY!!! This is cruelty!

Is it at all shocking that taking away the escapes we use to cope with the fact that we are always teetering on the edge of unpreventable disasters of varying magnitudes is of more immediate importance than the distant threat or realisation of such disasters?  We need to be distracted from the Total Perspective Vortices that naturally present themselves lest our psyches collapse in upon themselves.

[FatherXmas]

I giggled when the car alarms went off. Further evidence of how powerful it was.

What impressed me was the shaking of the car from the primary and followup sonic booms.  Based on the time delay between the meteor passing and the sonic boom it was that "loud" roughly 25-30 miles away.