Asteroid 'Hit Northern Russia'

Ananova ^ | 10-4-2002

[blam]

Asteroid 'hit northern Russia'

A large meteorite is thought to have smashed into a forest in a remote area of Russia.

Residents in the town of Bodaibo, in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, saw a large luminous body fall from the sky.

They say the impact caused the ground to shake and made a sound like thunder.

Flashes of bright light could be seen above the impact site, which was a long way from any settlements according to the Russian newspaper Pravda.

"Locals felt a strong shock, which could be comparable to an earthquake," said the report. "In addition to that, the people also heard a thunder-like sound."

Asteroid expert Dr Benny Peiser, from Liverpool John Moore's University, said: "If the eyewitness accounts are confirmed, this fact of an earth tremor together with thunder-like explosive sounds would indicate a rather significant impact event."

He said the incident occurred on the same day as the US House of Representatives debated the need to search for smaller asteroids and the danger of mistaking impacts for nuclear attacks.

At least 30 times a year, asteroids smash into the Earth's atmosphere and explode with the force of a nuclear bomb.

These smaller asteroids, between 200 and 500 metres wide, could potentially demolish a city with a direct hit or cause tsunamis - giant waves - capable of wiping out entire coastal areas if they land in the ocean.

Astronomers estimate there could be between 900 and 1,300 large asteroids measuring one kilometre or more in our part of the solar system, while the number of smaller bodies could amount to 50,000.

Story filed: 18:25 Friday 4th October 2002

[Mustang]

I stand corrected. I should have known better.

BTW...was'nt Ken Kiesy (sp) one of their pranksters?

Best FReegards....(being born in'48)...Mustang sends.

[null and void]

Why can't these damn things ever hit somewhere like Mecca?

The Kabaaba stone, the center of the Islamic universe is a meteorite.

Luke 10

18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (KJV)

[blam]

"BTW, did you know the Earth actually has a second moon?"

No I didn't, thanks.

BTW, the Eros spacecraft survived the crash landing on the asteroid. (To everyone's amazement)

[Axenolith]

3 mile asteroid in a Lagrange point = Build to suit space station!

[SierraWasp]

"I keep telling you guys, God throws rocks!"

That's so silly! That would mean that song that says: "Everybody must git stoned," is correct, along with over half the Liberaltarians!!!

Not to be too adamant about it, but are you related to Adam ant?

[Lokibob]

BTW, do you know the earths moon is the only large body in the solar system that we havn't named?

We call it "MOON" like a caveman. All the moons of the other planets have been named except ours.

[PoorMuttly]

Let's call it Bob.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Why are there no photographs or images of the impact area?
Has anyone seen the area of impact on the news or internet?

[Lokibob]

LOO, I wrote a short fiction story about that same thing:
http://lokibob.bravepages.com/mystories.html

[blam]

"Has anyone seen the area of impact on the news or internet?"

I've looked at all my sources, this is all I could find. I'm really suprised.

[Lokibob]

I read this morning that Russia is having funding problems to mount a survey of the area.

I guess that it is pretty expensive to get a helicopter up there.

It would be really helpful if somebody could get a date and hour this all happened. I have looked at 5 or 6 different news articles and none of them have a date, let alone an hour.

There have been no earthquakes of any magnitude in the last 30 days in Siberia. Checked that.

[Eala]

I bet the same journalists that wrote this article also wrote the article about the semi-automatic revolver with the silencer...

Lol. You're not serious...?

[PoorMuttly]

The moon's name IS Bob...so try it again. They don't like the Loki part. Say your name is Abdul or something.

[aquawrench]

Strange, just yesterday I was wondering when the next one of these was going to come down as I was reading John and Mary Gribbin's "Fire On Earth".
In 1947, another space rock hit Siberia about 3000 miles East of the Tunguska, this time it was smaller, but still had many times the power of Hiroshima.

Remember the giant fireball that missed the Earth in 1972? It sliced through the atmosphere from the US rockies to Canada, then headed back out into space. It was estimated at many times the size of the Tunguska object.
Whoever is shooting at Siberia is closer than 47 light years!

[Eala]

BTW, did you know the Earth actually has a second moon? It is called Cruithne (pronounced crew-EEN-ya). It is about 3 miles across.

What's the origin of the name? It looks Gaelic (Scottish Gaelic or Irish), but I don't know the word and it's not in my dictionaries. The nearest word I can find translates as "Buckwheat"... (was somebody having a little fun there?)

[Eala]

Let's call it Bob.

My boss is named Bob. Let's not.

[tdscpa]

I thought "The Moon" was officially named "Luna".

[hoosierskypilot]

"They'd think they were at war."

Uh, I think they are at war.

[hoosierskypilot]

I don't think the earth's atmosphere is necessarily the same as the earth.

Probably when such things hit the atmosphere, unless they're huge, they'll burn up before actually hitting the earth.