February 15, 201313 yr 15 February 2013 At least 250 people have been injured after a meteor shower over central Russia blew out windows, interior ministry sources say. Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed into the Ural region. Chelyabinsk residents reported shaking ground and car alarms being set off. The traces from falling objects could be seen in Yekaterinburg, about 200km (125 miles) north of Chelyabinsk, a witness told the Reuters news agency. At least 100 people - many injured by broken glass from shockwaves caused by the shower - have been taken to hospital for treatment, medical officials in the city have said. 'Burning objects' A witness in Chelyabinsk told Reuters that a huge blast was heard early on Friday morning and that shockwaves were felt in a 19-storey building in the town centre. The Interfax news agency said that preliminary reports indicated that four people were injured by flying glass. People in the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions reported seeing "burning objects" in the sky, which also fell on the cities of Yekaterinburg and Tyumen - a sparsely populated area of about 500km (310 miles). About 600 sq m (6,000 sq ft) of a roof at a zinc factory collapsed, the Associated Press quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying. The Chelyabinsk region is Russia's industrial heartland, an area that has many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre. The emergencies ministry said that thousands of rescue workers had been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured. Officials say that the shower began after a large meteorite disintegrated above the Urals mountain range and partially burned up in the lower atmosphere - resulting in fragments falling earthwards throughout the Chelyabinsk region. link [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Omh7_I8vI]Meteorite crash in Russia: Video of meteorite explosion that stirred panic in Urals region - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36MEsWC1Pzc]Apocalypse Now? Meteorite hits Russia lighting sky, shattering windows - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDqYclzto7k]????? ????????? ??? ??????????? / Meteor Russland, Tscheljabinsk - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIAm5hq8WWc]????? ????????? ??? ??????????? - YouTube[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE4p8gCOY7Q]shock meteorite fall Chelyabinsk 15,02,13 ??????? ????????? ????????? 7 - YouTube[/ame]
February 15, 201313 yr ABOUT 1,000 INJURED BY METEOR SHOWER IN RUSSIAN URAL REGION The number of people injured in connection with the meteor shower in the Ural region in RUSSIA has risen to about 1,000 of which more than 2000 children. According to the authorities in the town of Chelyabinsk most people were hit by bits of broken glass from windows. More than 40 people had to be treated in hospital, 2 of them should be severely injured. More than 3,000 houses in 6 towns were damaged. German ZDFtext
February 15, 201313 yr Just read it on the web. Holy fuck!! :stunned: What a relief that nobody got killed!
February 15, 201313 yr When I woke up and saw this on the news this morning, I thought "wait a minute, I thought the experts said this thing wouldn't hit the earth!" *shortly afterward realizing that was the asteroid, and this is completely different* oops I can't imagine what it would have been like to witness it, not knowing exactly what it was at the time, where it would land, etc. In regard to it causing windows to break, was that because of the uber-loud sonic boom that it created, or because of the impact? Or both? It's not clear to me from the reports I've been seeing, the news just vaguely says that it caused windows to break.
February 15, 201313 yr When I woke up and saw this on the news this morning, I thought "wait a minute, I thought the experts said this thing wouldn't hit the earth!" *shortly afterward realizing that was the asteroid, and this is completely different* oopssame here, I was totally confused and freaked out. I can't imagine what it would have been like to witness it, not knowing exactly what it was at the time, where it would land, etc.In the German news they said that the people believed it was a crashing plane. If I lived there I would have probably thought it was a rocket or something :uhoh: In regard to it causing windows to break, was that because of the uber-loud sonic boom that it created, or because of the impact? Or both? It's not clear to me from the reports I've been seeing, the news just vaguely says that it caused windows to break.I believe it was the shock wave of the impact. But maybe it was both...
February 15, 201313 yr Author oh that meteor was a horrible disaster, and about the astreoid, Asteroid DA14 is due to fly past Earth in a few hours. It's 50 metres across and will pass just 17,100 miles above our heads. Although there is no danger of a collision, it's still passing much closer than any other known asteroid and closer than many man made satellites. NASA will be doing a live stream of the asteroid as it passes us by, so don't despair if it won't be visible from your area. The stream will begin at 19:00 GMT/14:00 EST/11:00 PST. You'll be able to watch it here: that seems cool :wacko:
February 16, 201313 yr 20,000 CLEANING UP AFTER METEORITES About 20,000 voluntary clean-up workers have been sent to the URAL region in Russia where about 1,200 people were injured yesterday by a shower of meteors / meteorites. According to the Russian site RT.com, 110 of the injured have been hospitalized. 2 of them are seriously injured. The falling meteorites have caused damage amounting to more than $33m, says Michail Jurevitsj, governor in the Tjeljabinsk region. More than 100,000 households have been damaged, he says. All windows are intended to be repaired/fixed within a week, he says. The Emergencies Minister Vladimir Putjkov inspects the damage in Tjeljabinsk and says on television that a special team assesses the stability of the buildings that were exposed to the shock wave. The meteor has damaged 2,962 buildings in Tjeljabinsk and its neigbourhood including 34 of the health system buildings, 11 public offices and 361 schools and kindergardens - this ihas been reported by the Russian ministry in charge of disaster management according to the news agency Itar-Tass. Experts are examining the area where the meteorites landed. Divers are searching the bottom of the lake in order to find meteorites. The meteor has been estimated to have weighed 10 ton when entering the atmosphere, but it was later split into smal parts. Sources: Swedish SVT Text + Danish TV2 News + Norwegian NRK News + German ARDtext / ZDFtext Also BBC has something about it 8see the post below).
February 16, 201313 yr http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21482252 16 February 2013 Last updated at 12:13 GMT Russia sends clean-up team to meteorite-hit Urals A big rescue and clean-up operation involving more than 9,000 workers is going on in the Ural mountains following Friday's meteor strike, Russia's emergencies ministry says. President Vladimir Putin ordered the operation to help some 1,200 people who were injured, including 200 children, mostly by shattered glass. The shockwave damaged an estimated 200,000 sq m (50 acres) of windows. Russian officials put the cost of the damage at about 1bn roubles ($33m). Power of small atomic weapon A fireball had streaked through the sky on Friday, followed by loud bangs. A large fragment was thought to have landed in a frozen lake near Chebarkul, a town in the Chelyabinsk region. A Russian army spokesman said a crater 6m (20ft) wide had been found there. However, a group of six divers inspected the bottom of the lake on Saturday and discovered no fragments amid the sludge. It's thought the search for the meteorite will be delayed until the ice melts in the spring. Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said there was no confirmation yet that any fragments had been found across the region. Mr Puchkov toured Chelyabinsk city on Saturday to assess the damage. He said: "We have a special team working... that is now assessing the seismic stability of buildings. We will be especially careful about switching the gas back on." More than 9,000 people are working to clear up the damage in the Chelyabinsk region. Most are locals, but some 1,800 people came from neighbouring regions. Mr Putin said he had thanked God that no big fragments of the 10-tonne meteor - which was thought to be made of iron and travelling at some 30 km (19 miles) per second - had fallen in populated areas. It had entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke apart 30-50 km (20-30 miles) above ground, according to Russia's Academy of Sciences, releasing several kilotons of energy - the equivalent of a small atomic weapon. The emergencies ministry urged calm, saying background radiation levels were normal after what it described as a "meteorite shower in the form of fireballs". Some 50 people remain in hospital for treatment - mainly for cuts and bruises from shattered glass. 'Little explosions' The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500km east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre. The shockwave blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings in the region. Regional governor Mikhail Yurevich said damage was estimated at 1bn roubles but dismissed as a "journalistic spoof" reports in Russian media that people had deliberately shattered windows to claim on meteorite-related insurance. Many children were in classrooms when the meteor fell at around 09:20 (03:20 GMT). (I have removed some paragraphs of the article that can be read in full using the link to the article). Scientists have played down suggestions that there is any link between the event in the Urals and 2012 DA14, an asteroid which raced past the Earth later on Friday at a distance of just 27,700km (17,200 miles) - the closest ever for an object of that size. Such meteor strikes are rare in Russia but one is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (770 sq m) in Siberia in 1908.
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