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Meteorite crash in Russia

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11–20 of 311 posts

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#11
>According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit

Anyone else catch this? Is this just a bad translation and they mean to say that an air defense unit tracked the meteorite on radar?

I wouldn't think any air defense system would be capable of actually intercepting a meteorite, but perhaps I'm wrong. Still doesn't seem like anything intercepted it from the videos.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#12
post #10

It takes events like this to highlight how awesome it is to have a large number of people constantly recording video. Integrated dashcams with a circular buffer should become ubiquitous standard equipment IMO. 1080p of first clip available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE

Does everyone in Russia have a dashcam or something? It seems like every other video I see on YouTube was recorded on one, and yet I don't know of anyone in Japan or the US with one installed (parking cams don't count). It's a great idea– I would probably get one if I still had a car, but it's amazing to me just how prevalent they seem in Russia. (Elsewhere too? I don't know. I'd love it if someone could enlighten me…

Apparently, most do to avert insurance disputes.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#13
post #10

It takes events like this to highlight how awesome it is to have a large number of people constantly recording video. Integrated dashcams with a circular buffer should become ubiquitous standard equipment IMO. 1080p of first clip available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE

Does everyone in Russia have a dashcam or something? It seems like every other video I see on YouTube was recorded on one, and yet I don't know of anyone in Japan or the US with one installed (parking cams don't count). It's a great idea– I would probably get one if I still had a car, but it's amazing to me just how prevalent they seem in Russia. (Elsewhere too? I don't know. I'd love it if someone could enlighten me…

Can't find the link, but Kottke (of kottke.org) posted about this a while back. Russians apparently use dash cams to deter police corruption.

Edit: Sorry, it's not police--they're used to aid in car insurance claims. See below.

http://kottke.org/12/12/russians-are-dashboard-cam-crazy

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#15

It is believed that the incident may be connected to asteroid 2012 DA14, which measures 45 to 95 meters in diameter and will be passing by Earth tonight at around 19:25 GMT at the record close range of 27,000 kilometers. apparently there was a risk that asteroid would intercept a satellite orbit. Too early to say, but it seems more likely than mere coincidence.

Phil Plait (Slate's Bad Astronomer) doesn't think they're related: https://twitter.com/BadAstronomer

Note especially: 12 hours is a long way at 8 km/sec, so this object in Ruissia was on a very different orbit than 2012 DA14.

and also: Also, apparently moving east-to-west tho I can’t say for sure. Anything on the orbit of DA14 would be moving south-to-north.

Obviously info is still pretty thin, and this article seems pretty speculative. I'd wait a few hours before jumping to any conclusions.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#16
post #11

>According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit Anyone else catch this? Is this just a bad translation and they mean to say that an air defense unit tracked the meteorite on radar? I wouldn't think any air defense system would be capable of actually intercepting a meteorite, but perhaps I'm wrong. Still doesn't seem like anything intercepted it from the videos.

"BREAKING NEWS - Urals meteorite shot down by Russian air defense - military source >>"

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#17
post #10

It takes events like this to highlight how awesome it is to have a large number of people constantly recording video. Integrated dashcams with a circular buffer should become ubiquitous standard equipment IMO. 1080p of first clip available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE

Does everyone in Russia have a dashcam or something? It seems like every other video I see on YouTube was recorded on one, and yet I don't know of anyone in Japan or the US with one installed (parking cams don't count). It's a great idea– I would probably get one if I still had a car, but it's amazing to me just how prevalent they seem in Russia. (Elsewhere too? I don't know. I'd love it if someone could enlighten me…

It's a byproduct of Russians using them to combat corruption and scammers on the road. It's a fad that caught on based upon the underlying need. In the US most citizens don't have that underlying need. The cops, on the other hand, do have burden of proof and liability concerns, so police cars do have them. If the average citizen could be extorted on the highway they'd start to catch on here too :)

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#18
post #10

It takes events like this to highlight how awesome it is to have a large number of people constantly recording video. Integrated dashcams with a circular buffer should become ubiquitous standard equipment IMO. 1080p of first clip available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE

Does everyone in Russia have a dashcam or something? It seems like every other video I see on YouTube was recorded on one, and yet I don't know of anyone in Japan or the US with one installed (parking cams don't count). It's a great idea– I would probably get one if I still had a car, but it's amazing to me just how prevalent they seem in Russia. (Elsewhere too? I don't know. I'd love it if someone could enlighten me…

Yes apparently to avoid people jumping infront of car and suing the driver: http://www.animalnewyork.com/2012/russian-dashcam/

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#19
post #10

It takes events like this to highlight how awesome it is to have a large number of people constantly recording video. Integrated dashcams with a circular buffer should become ubiquitous standard equipment IMO. 1080p of first clip available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-0iwBEswE

Does everyone in Russia have a dashcam or something? It seems like every other video I see on YouTube was recorded on one, and yet I don't know of anyone in Japan or the US with one installed (parking cams don't count). It's a great idea– I would probably get one if I still had a car, but it's amazing to me just how prevalent they seem in Russia. (Elsewhere too? I don't know. I'd love it if someone could enlighten me…

I've heard the explanation that Russian insurance companies are much less likely to pay out if you don't have a dashcam. I'm not sure how true that is but it sounds likely to me.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#20
post #11

>According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit Anyone else catch this? Is this just a bad translation and they mean to say that an air defense unit tracked the meteorite on radar? I wouldn't think any air defense system would be capable of actually intercepting a meteorite, but perhaps I'm wrong. Still doesn't seem like anything intercepted it from the videos.

The next sentence follows with:

  A missile salvo reportedly blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers.
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