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From: AlanB (Original Message)

Sent: 10/4/2002 8:54 PM

Cosmic Log Archive
By Alan Boyle
Copyright 2002 MSNBC
This is an archived version of a Cosmic Log entry, and some links or other features may be nonfunctional. For fully functional versions of current items, check Cosmic Log on MSNBC

Meteor alert in Russia: The Russian newspaper Pravda reports that witnesses in Bodaibo, a city in the Siberian region of Irkutsk, saw a “very large luminous object” fall to Earth — accompanied by a flash and a thunderous sound.
“The site of the fall is situated very far from any settlements, but locals felt a strong shock, which could be comparable to an earthquake,” Pravda reported Thursday.
Although the facts so far (including the time element) are sketchy, Russian scientists are suggesting that the object was a meteorite — and that meshes with the first impressions from Benny Peiser, an anthropologist at Liverpool John Moores University who specializes in the effects of deep impact.
Peiser, who passed along the reports via his Cambridge Conference Network, told the British-based Ananova online news service that descriptions of the blast would point to “a rather significant impact event.” South Africa’s Independent Online, meanwhile, quotes scientists in Irkutsk as saying no injuries were reported.
The news flashes were eerie on two counts: First, it arose just as experts were telling Congress that even relatively small-scale meteor strikes could set off nuclear alarms — and that more attention needs to be paid to the potential threat. Second, the most recently recorded significant impact also took place in Siberia, in the forests of Tunguska 94 years ago, and scientists have been warning for some time that we might be due for another Tunguska-level blast.
Stay tuned for details as they dribble out.

'Vitimskii' meteorite

The scientists of three research institutes of Irkutsk left for the past output into the Mamsko - Chuyskiy region. For scientists it was possible to take samples of snow, which can contain the cosmic dust it it had to remain on the way of the incidence in the meteorite. Many trees with the damages by metal are discovered. Now the assembled materials are processed. In their medium they will deliver into Irkutsk. But scientists with confidence even now speak that on the night of 25 September 2002 in this place above the Earth exploded the meteorite.

Russian scientists locate site of meteorite crash

The Associated Press

Published: June 21, 2003, 03:57:37 PM PDT

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian scientists say they have found the spot in Siberia where a giant meteorite came crashing to Earth last year.

The researchers from the Kosmopoisk, or Space Search, research group told Rossiya state television Thursday that they believe a burned-out tract of taiga about 700 miles north of the city of Irkutsk is the spot where one or more meteorites fell on Sept. 25.

Vadim Chernobrov, Kosmopoisk's coordinator, said the meteorite crash was "comparable to the force of a medium atomic bomb."

"In other words, this is a colossal historic event," he told Rossiya. "I'm simply happy that we were the first at the epicenter."

Chernobrov said that after examining the site, the research team believes two meteorites actually fell, not just one, as previously thought.

The images captured from Euronews TV