Russian meteorite 1,000 times bigger than originally thought!

Russian meteorite 1,000 times bigger than originally thought Read more: www.foxnews.com...

www.foxnews.com

Later in the evening, after studying infrasound data from stations around the world, NASA released a new estimate revising that first guess upward by a thousand-fold: The meteorite actually weighed closer to 10,000 tons, scientists said.

Read more: www.foxnews.com...

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So, it went from being an estimated 10 tons to 10,000 tons? How could this be exactly?

I heard initial estimations that the meteor was 2m in size but this just can not be the case at all if it was actually 10,000 tons. Something about this doesn't make a whole lot of sense on the surface.

Wouldn't something of that mass and velocity have caused a lot more damage and loss of life? I'm no astrophysicist but 10,000 tons seems like a lot to me.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It truly is frightening stuff that this got through undetected, what if it was bigger still?

www.liveleak.com...

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


Yes it is frightening, what I'm wondering is though...... Even though I have seen many Youtube videos of windows being blown out and sonic booms wouldn't something with that much mass and traveling at such a high velocity create a large crater instead of almost completely evaporating before hitting the surface?

I know in Tunguska it blew up before contact but I forget how large that one was said too be, I'm off to find out but I don't know, something seems odd about this event for some reason, I just don't know why yet.

reply to post by Helious


I'm not to up on the science behind that mate, so when you get more info, please post back

To anyone there though, I'm sure in the bottom of their hearts, that for a brief moment, some may have felt that this was an apocalyptic event.

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


I'm really starting to think that this was the asteroid and was destroyed midair. All they had to do was change the time of arrival by twelve of so hours

I think bigger is an incorrect way to describe it.......heavier is better.

Those rocks are fairly dense (and composed of different materials), a similar sized Earth based rock would probably weigh much less.

EDIT: 10,000 tons seems a bit much though

Originally posted by Onandawaabandaan
reply to post by Helious

 

Fox News????? Really?

Sorry, CNN isn't covering the story, their too busy gun grabbing.

Increase in MASS is not the same thing of increase of SIZE.

This is why I think science via the media is a joke. So they just get to 'claim' and we just believe then start quoting them as if it were true?

I was shaking my head when I was reading about the meteor here in Florida
They claim "The one seen over South Florida landed in the ocean and was likely between the size of a golf ball to a soccer ball"

And I ask; based on WHAT are they coming up with these sizes?

They are just a bunch of PhD's in lab coats, taking guesses then passing it off as superior scientific knowledge and then the minion regurgitates it.

I think they base this calculation upon the fragments which were found and analyzed.

It turns out they contained more than 10% iron, and I guess that adds a lot to the potential density of the object. Meaning a vastly increased mass at roughly the same volume.

But of course I always take such calculations with a few grains of salt. After all no-one put that thing on a scale, thus there will never be a absolute certainty.

Originally posted by JDmOKI
reply to post by Zcustosmorum

 

I'm really starting to think that this was the asteroid and was destroyed midair. All they had to do was change the time of arrival by twelve of so hours

And you would be wrong. But you know the ATS motto: Spread ignorance.

reply to post by Helious


If it weighed that much, how did it barely do damage? Yeah a measly 10 million or whatever the estimates were....But something that big if it wasn't blown to pieces out of the air, would do a lot more damage IMO that is.....

This story just keeps getting more interesting.....Good find OP (Fox news or not)

Originally posted by H1ght3chHippie
I think they base this calculation upon the fragments which were found and analyzed.

It turns out they contained more than 10% iron, and I guess that adds a lot to the potential density of the object. Meaning a vastly increased mass at roughly the same volume.

But of course I always take such calculations with a few grains of salt. After all no-one put that thing on a scale, thus there will never be a absolute certainty.

They claim these sizes about 15-minutes after they are spotted. And even faster if it's right before the 6 o'clock news

Ok, so this is directly from NASA regarding Tunguska......

"A century later some still debate the cause and come up with different scenarios that could have caused the explosion," said Yeomans. "But the generally agreed upon theory is that on the morning of June 30, 1908, a large space rock, about 120 feet across, entered the atmosphere of Siberia and then detonated in the sky." It is estimated the asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere traveling at a speed of about 33,500 miles per hour. During its quick plunge, the 220-million-pound space rock heated the air surrounding it to 44,500 degrees Fahrenheit. At 7:17 a.m. (local Siberia time), at a height of about 28,000 feet, the combination of pressure and heat caused the asteroid to fragment and annihilate itself, producing a fireball and releasing energy equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima bombs.

Source

120 ft across, 33.500 mph and 220 million pounds which I think is 110,000 tons so obviously, Tunguska was a much larger rock.

Which is more alarming, the underestimation, or the fact that it was completely unexpected?

OR... that this may only be the beginning?

reply to post by ausername


I have yet to hear that they have taken a good close look in the direction the Russian meteor has come from to determine if anything else is incoming. I would feel much better if and when they say it was an isolated rock.

Fact is, no matter how unlikely it is, whatever event sent that meteor in motion to the Earth could of sent other fragments, larger or smaller. It would be nice for somebody with a very large telescope to tell me no more fragments are expected haha.

reply to post by Helious


If it is moving toward Earth in front of the sun, the likelihood that it could be detected before impact is slim at best, and most likely impossible.

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


The damage was minimal because it exploded about 20 miles above the ground. There could have been a far worse outcome. Were you disappointed?