Posted on 04/23/2012 5:29:36 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Speaking to SpaceWeather.com, Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s MEO office says, “The energy is estimated at a whopping 3.8 kilotons of TNT, so this was a big event,” he continues. “I am not saying there was a 3.8 kiloton explosion on the ground in California. I am saying that the meteor possessed this amount of energy before it broke apart in the atmosphere. [The map] shows the location of the atmospheric breakup, not impact with the ground.”
The event that rattled windows, set off car alarms and glaringly bright enough to be seen in early morning daylight was also recorded via the Nevada Seismological Laboratory as the sound wave (sonic boom) passed across the ground from seismological station to station in Nevada.
Based on initial reports, University of Nevada Reno astronomers believed the likely cause was in fact an exploding meteor, also known as a bolide roughly the size of a washing machine ... Scientists now believe the object may have been possibly larger...
“The fact that sonic booms were heard indicates that this meteor penetrated very low in atmosphere, which implies a speed less than 15 km/s (33,500 mph),” Cooke said to SpaceWeather.com ”Assuming this value for the speed, I get a mass for the meteor of around 70 metric tons. Hazarding a further guess at the density of 3 grams per cubic centimeter (solid rock), I calculate a size of about 3-4 meters, or about the size of a minivan.”
“This meteor was probably not a Lyrid; without a trajectory, I cannot rule out a Lyrid origin, but I think it likely that it was a background or sporadic meteor.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Object the a size of a “mini-van” entered the atmosphere yesterday.
That’s exactly why I delay tax form finalization until October.
Too bad it didn’t hit a Iranian nuclear facility
If you could wait until after December 21st, you won’t have to worry about anything.
“also known as a bolide roughly the size of a washing machine”
I know exactly what happened!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_jLpd-_gdY
(action begins at 50 seconds.)
This morning I saw coverage that tracked the event based on the locations of 911 calls.
Due east from the SF bay area. South along the Nevada side of the Sierras. Due west to the Greater Los Angeles area.
Two sharp turns in a “meteor” track.
Nothing like this has been observed since 1908...
Did the last turn of the meteor put it on an intercept course for Area 51? Maybe it landed there? Those fast movers really move fast ya know!
Got to watch them meteors that do sharp turns to bleed off speed :^)
You bet.
I missed it, and would have paid money to see/hear it.
Some folks said it was the loudest thing they ever heard. One guy described it as sounding like a rocket launch.
One can just imagine an asteroid the size of Dodger stadium coming in.
Hmmmm. From what I recall of the map it blew past Area 51 and ended up pointed sorta at Edwards...
This one and Tunguska are the only two I’ve ever heard of that made sharp turns.
I didn’t hear a thng.
There are images of it, if you haven’t seen them.
Images of the turns?
No, the meteor.
it’s possible to turn, once some of the meteor has broken/burnt off. You are assuming the meteor is made of a solid substance, whereas it probably is an amalgam.
Under stress, it can break, or burn off at different rates, which change the shape of the rock/meteor. Once this occurs, it *probably* will change direction — by how much is determined by the shape of what’s left.
Keep in mind, even it it was an “alien” or earth craft, you can’t change direction very fast (laws of physics at work here) and drag, of course. So unless it’s “magic” you won’t see 90 degree turns or such nonsense.
Yeah, the shuttle has very small movable surfaces, and rockets to enable it to change it’s trajectory. A much bigger trajectory change can occur when a alrge part of *something* breaks off!
There are plenty of mysteries win the universe without creating them.
There is a big difference between what we know, what we want to know, and what we can ever know.
If you want some *speculation*....here’s some..... Let’s see...NK rocket rails in 3rd stage. US has recently tested high altitude intercept of ballistic missiles over the pacific.....NK is *really* mad about the failure of the rocket (instead of embarrassed). Hmmmmmm????
The values used this story, kg and km/s, are all in metric system. The asteroid burned up in the United States; the experts, at UNVR and NASA, are employed in U.S. government jobs; the journalists work for an American company; that company transmits its story over American taxpayer-owned frequencies or over the American taxpayer-owned electric-system grid by cable-systems.
If we don’t want our American way to disappear, then let’s force all these American government agencies and American companies to speak American: inches, feet, yards, miles; pint, quart, gallon; ounce, pound, ton.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.