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Meteorite crash in Russia

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Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#171

Post by madaxe »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #66

That is an amazing event. I am not sure I buy the meteorite story. Has anyone checked on 2012-DA14 [1] the asteroid that was supposed to cross between the earth and geosync orbit this evening? One conjecture would be it knocked something out of orbit. The air defense stuff is somewhat hard to believe, we don't intercept de-orbiting space junk, much less less hypersonic meteors. Further every missile interceptor that…

In the various videos, there are a few noteworthy artefacts.

1) After the bright white flash, we see debris flying in the opposite direction to the meteor's path, in a parabolic trajectory - i.e. falling.

2) Your AMM system doesn't need to be hypersonic to intercept a hypersonic target. The key here is "intercept". You launch a missile to be where the target is going to be, in a direction >90deg away from the target's path.

3) The Russian AMM system that would be used in these circumstances would be the 53T6 Gazelle, which is equipped with a 10kt warhead.

I'm inclined to give the air defence line credence.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#172

Post by InclinedPlane »

Udo wrote: post #164
InclinedPlane wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm going to change my mind on this. The more I watch videos the more I'm convinced that the loud bangs are actually the sound of the meteor exploding in an air burst, although I think there are some sonic booms mixed in. Edit: OK, I'm going back to it being a sonic boom. The sounds are too sharp and too similar to other sonic booms. That's what I get for not trusting my gut the first time.

I think your original impression was correct. The first big bang is most likely a sonic boom that occurred shortly after entering the atmosphere. There are several smaller bangs and some crackling noise after that. Some of these I suspect are echoes, but party it would also be the sound of the thing passing through the air, and then possibly breaking up. I doubt the burst from the breakup was that loud (it looked mor…

Mach 32, that's Earth's escape velocity, which is also how how fast objects tend to fall to Earth.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#173

Post by Udo »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #172
Udo wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your original impression was correct. The first big bang is most likely a sonic boom that occurred shortly after entering the atmosphere. There are several smaller bangs and some crackling noise after that. Some of these I suspect are echoes, but party it would also be the sound of the thing passing through the air, and then possibly breaking up. I doubt the burst from the breakup was that loud (it looked mor…

Mach 32, that's Earth's escape velocity, which is also how how fast objects tend to fall to Earth.

That's what I mainly meant by "fast", the angle of attack appeared to be relatively steep. I suppose you could be right about the idea that the breakup sound should have been heard before the entry sonic boom, but wouldn't you expect there to be two distinct bangs in that case? I still think the breakup was not that energetic, but it's hard to tell from the footage. It's all just guesswork, but still exciting :)

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#174

Post by InclinedPlane »

madaxe wrote: post #166
creamyhorror wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a great dashcam video that captures the meteor arcing across its field of vision and lighting up the scene more brightly than the sun like a nuclear blast (first submitted to HN by dennisgorelik). I almost thought it was a hoax, and even tried to examine the video for signs that it was CGI. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJOJ6B2XOyA The guy doesn't even say anything for a long while, just starts speeding up. e…

There probably is a nuclear blast in that mix. They stated that anti-missile systems intercepted it - the only thing with a hope in hell of reaching and destroying/breaking a meteor is the 53T6 Gazelle, which has a 10kt warhead.

As far as I know the only active ABM system in Russia is around Moscow. Chelyabinsk is not anywhere near the Moscow Oblast.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#175

Post by InclinedPlane »

zalew wrote: post #51
detst wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand the language but I hear lots of "yeah boy" in these videos. They seem less concerned than I'd imagine myself to be. Edit: haha, thanks for the explanations; that changes my interpretation of their reactions.

yebat (ебать), loosely translated and depending on form, it could mean either 'oh fuck' or an explicit description of a strong impact ;) we slavs have infinite possibilities of cursing.

http://translate.google.com/#en/ru/fuck

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#176

Post by danparsonson »

madaxe wrote: post #171
ChuckMcM wrote: post #66

That is an amazing event. I am not sure I buy the meteorite story. Has anyone checked on 2012-DA14 [1] the asteroid that was supposed to cross between the earth and geosync orbit this evening? One conjecture would be it knocked something out of orbit. The air defense stuff is somewhat hard to believe, we don't intercept de-orbiting space junk, much less less hypersonic meteors. Further every missile interceptor that…

In the various videos, there are a few noteworthy artefacts. 1) After the bright white flash, we see debris flying in the opposite direction to the meteor's path, in a parabolic trajectory - i.e. falling. 2) Your AMM system doesn't need to be hypersonic to intercept a hypersonic target. The key here is "intercept". You launch a missile to be where the target is going to be, in a direction >90deg away from the target'…

> 1) After the bright white flash, we see debris flying in the opposite direction to the meteor's path, in a parabolic trajectory - i.e. falling.

I thought that at first, but on second watching I'm wondering if that's just lens flare? See

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t...

about 00:19, I'm assuming that's the part you're talking about?

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#177

Post by madaxe »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #174
madaxe wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There probably is a nuclear blast in that mix. They stated that anti-missile systems intercepted it - the only thing with a hope in hell of reaching and destroying/breaking a meteor is the 53T6 Gazelle, which has a 10kt warhead.

As far as I know the only active ABM system in Russia is around Moscow. Chelyabinsk is not anywhere near the Moscow Oblast.

They've got them peppered through the Urals. Lots of Cold War silos in that neck of the woods, and definitely active ABMs - saw them being driven just outside of astrakhan in the dead of night last year.

Also, kaz is full of Russian military hardware. Baikonur for instance is definitely covered by ABMs, as to not do so would be an untenable risk as far as Russia is concerned.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#178

Post by madaxe »

danparsonson wrote: post #176
madaxe wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the various videos, there are a few noteworthy artefacts. 1) After the bright white flash, we see debris flying in the opposite direction to the meteor's path, in a parabolic trajectory - i.e. falling. 2) Your AMM system doesn't need to be hypersonic to intercept a hypersonic target. The key here is "intercept". You launch a missile to be where the target is going to be, in a direction >90deg away from the target'…

> 1) After the bright white flash, we see debris flying in the opposite direction to the meteor's path, in a parabolic trajectory - i.e. falling. I thought that at first, but on second watching I'm wondering if that's just lens flare? See http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t... about 00:19, I'm assuming that's the part you're talking about?

Yeah, but it's present in other videos too, and moves in an arc, which countersuggests a lens or CCD bucket overflow artefact.

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#179

Post by playing_colours »

mmastrac wrote: post #31

Here's a collection of insane videos of the event, some with the enormous sonic boom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIAm5hq8WWc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0cRHsApzt8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_mpGYSBSA Can anyone translate what they are saying in the first one? You can get a good idea of the new videos being posted using YouTube's "last hour" filter: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%D0%BC%D0%…

[Edit] Some translation from the first video: A lot of dirty language. Just after thunder: "What the f..k?! What is going on? Bombing! Preliminary bombardment!" "Don't worry for now. Nothing is clear yet. It's a preliminary bombardment. Wow, what a film I shot! Go for our jackets! Run!" When running: "It's something serious, run!""Don't worry men! The most interesting is only beginning!" At the entrance of student dormitory: "We can't go inside for our jackets?" "You can't enter!" Then "Guys, warm up, I feel cold! I have filmed everything: explosion, falling, everything!" - "Show what you filmed." - "Later-later! No idea what to do now!" "Something flied by and there was flash" "Later, we don't know if something else will explode" "It was flash and then it flied to the forest, then we ran out I started to film and then thunder" "What an adventure! Cool!" "You see it entered the atmosphere and started to burn and then the pieces fell to the ground" "F..k I thought it's war!" "No worries" "I didn't understand what exploded. It's a small comet but what exploded?" "Mirrors broke"."I like it! The mirrors are broken in the building" "OK, bye, stop for now"

Re: Meteorite crash in Russia

#180

Post by soci »

mmastrac wrote: post #31

Here's a collection of insane videos of the event, some with the enormous sonic boom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIAm5hq8WWc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0cRHsApzt8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_mpGYSBSA Can anyone translate what they are saying in the first one? You can get a good idea of the new videos being posted using YouTube's "last hour" filter: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%D0%BC%D0%…

A huge crater somewhere in the desert with fire flames everywhere. It's jaw dropping...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cT8vZ-7vxQ

I just found this by using the "last hour" filter mmastrac suggested.

EDIT: It doesn't seem to be a crater caused by a meteorite. By looking at the youtube video "cfn" (comment below) looks like it's a gas explosion in 2007. Still, amazing.

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