Russian Meteor Unrelated To Asteroid Flyby

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No, the Russians did not shoot down a UFO, despite some claims.  Unfortunately for residents of Chelyabinsk, Russia, it was nothing more than a huge rock from space;  a meteor/bolide which it happened to fall to earth only hours before asteroid 2012 DA14 made it's 17,200 mile pass (closer than many satellites)!

At the time of this posting, approximately 1200 people have been injured, in and around Chelyabinsk, mostly by flying glass.  Many people may have been injured after having been knocked off their feet by the blast from the fireball.

According to the trajectory of the Chelyabinsk bolide, it had nothing to do with asteroid 1012 DA14... and it wasn't a UFO. -SW

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Press Release: NASA Experts Discuss Russia Meteor in Media Teleconference Today

 

WASHINGTON -- NASA experts will hold a teleconference for news media at 4 p.m. EST today to discuss a meteor that streaked through the skies over Russia's Urals region this morning.

Scientists have determined the Russia meteor is not related to asteroid 2012 DA14 that will safely pass Earth today at a distance of more than 17,000 miles. Early assessments of the Russia meteor indicate it was about one-third the size of 2012 DA14 and traveling in a different direction.

Panelists for the teleconference are:
-- Bill Cooke, lead for the Meteoroid Environments Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
-- Paul Chodas, research scientist in the Near Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

News media interested in participating should dial 888-843-7186 and use the passcode METEOR.

The teleconference will be carried live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

For detailed information concerning the Earth flyby of 2012 DA14, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

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About 1,100 injured as meteorite hits Russia with force of atomic bomb


A meteor streaked across the sky and exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains with the power of an atomic bomb Friday, its sonic blasts shattering countless windows and injuring about 1,100 people.

The spectacle deeply frightened many Russians, with some elderly women declaring that the world was coming to an end. Many of the injured were cut by flying glass as they flocked to windows, curious about what had produced such a blinding flash of light.

The meteor -- estimated to be about 10 tons and 49 feet wide -- entered the Earth's atmosphere at a hypersonic speed of at least 33,000 mph and shattered into pieces about 18-32 miles above the ground, the Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement. But even small asteroids pack a tremendous punch, explained Andrew Cheng of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

"It doesn’t take a very large object. A 10-meter size object already packs the same energy as a nuclear bomb," Cheng, who led a 2000-2001 mission for NASA to orbit and land on an asteroid, told FoxNews.com.

Amateur video showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time, just after sunrise, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening," said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, a city of 1 million about 930 miles east of Moscow.

"We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

The meteor hit less than a day before Asteroid 2012 DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid to the Earth for a rock of its size -- about 17,150 miles. But the European Space Agency said its experts had determined there was no connection -- just cosmic coincidence.

The meteor released several kilotons of energy above the region, the Russian science academy said. According to NASA, it was about 15 meters or 49 feet wide before it hit the atmosphere, about one-third the size of the passing asteroid.

Some meteorite fragments fell in a reservoir outside the town of Chebarkul. The crash left a 26-foot-wide crater in the ice.

The shock wave blew in more than 1 million square feet of glass, according to city officials, who said 3,000 buildings in the city were damaged. At one zinc factory, part of the roof collapsed.

The Interior Ministry said about 1,100 people sought medical care after the shock wave and 48 of them were hospitalized. Most of the injuries were caused by flying glass, officials said.

There was no immediate word on any deaths or anyone struck by space fragments.

Continue reading here.


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Video Link

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Youtube video courtesy Alexandr Ivanov

* Russian meteorite crash: LIVE UPDATES

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Russia Meteor Not Linked to Asteroid Flyby
Source: NASA

NASA statement on Russia meteor:
"According to NASA scientists, the trajectory of the Russia meteor was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object. Information is still being collected about the Russia meteor and analysis is preliminary at this point. In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14's trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north."

Update: February 15, 2013 7pm PST

New information provided by a worldwide network of sensors has allowed scientists to refine their estimates for the size of the object that entered that atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, at 7:20:26 p.m. PST, or 10:20:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 (3:20:26 UTC on Feb. 15).

The estimated size of the object, prior to entering Earth's atmosphere, has been revised upward from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass has increased from 7,000 to 10,000 tons. Also, the estimate for energy released during the event has increased by 30 kilotons to nearly 500 kilotons of energy released. These new estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world – the first recording of the event being in Alaska, over 6,500 kilometers away from Chelyabinsk. The infrasound data indicates that the event, from atmospheric entry to the meteor's airborne disintegration took 32.5 seconds. The calculations using the infrasound data were performed by Peter Brown at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface and in this case there were probably some large ones."

The trajectory of the Russia meteor was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, which hours later made its flyby of Earth, making it a completely unrelated object. The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia.
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Preliminary information indicates that a meteor in Chelyabinsk, Russia, is not related to asteroid 2012 DA14, which is flying by Earth safely today.

The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia. The meteor entered the atmosphere at about 40,000 mph (18 kilometers per second). The impact time was 7:20:26 p.m. PST, or 10:20:26 p.m. EST on Feb. 14 (3:20:26 UTC on Feb. 15), and the energy released by the impact was in the hundreds of kilotons.

Based on the duration of the event, it was a very shallow entry. It was larger than the meteor over Indonesia on Oct. 8, 2009. Measurements are still coming in, and a more precise measure of the energy may be available later. The size of the object before hitting the atmosphere was about 49 feet (15 meters) and had a mass of about 7,000 tons.

The meteor, which was about one-third the diameter of asteroid 2012 DA14, was brighter than the sun. Its trail was visible for about 30 seconds, so it was a grazing impact through the atmosphere.

It is important to note that this estimate is preliminary, and may be revised as more data is obtained.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
2013-061

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Asteroid 2012 DA14 - A Meteoric Close Shave Predicted

Depiction of the trajectory of asteroid 2012 DA14 on Feb 15, 2013. In this view,
we are looking down from above Earth's north pole.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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There is a 150ft wide rock headed for Earth.   Traveling between 12,427mph (20,000kph) and 18,641mph (30,000kph), asteroid 2012 DA14 is expected to fly by, even closer than the orbits of high geostationary telecommunications and weather satellites.   Some of those satellites are 22,000 miles (35,406km) above Earth.   However, experts calculate that on February 15, 2013, 2012 DA14 will skim by Earth at a distance of approximately 17,200 miles (27,681km).

Well, that's a relief!   A 330ft meteor is believed to have been the cause of the 1908 explosion over a remote region of Siberia, known as Tunguska.   Although that object exploded a short distance above the ground, it generated a blast that was 1000 times more destructive than the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima.   The 1908 explosion completely flattened 830 square miles (2,150 sq km) of Tunguska forest.

Don't put off getting those flowers, chocolates, or other Valentine treats for your honey.   2012 DA14 is predicted to be at it closest approach at approximately 1:30 PM Friday (the 15th), Texas time.  

-Sunny Williams
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NASA's Near Earth Object Program, 2012 DA14 Earth Impact Risk Summary


NASA 2012 DA14 Flyby with videos


Near-Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 to make extremely close approach in February 2013   


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Meteoric treasure found at Sutter's Mill, home of the California Gold Rush

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Dramatic Sutter's Mill meteorite proves rare scientific treasure


The fireball that streaked through the skies on April 22 and exploded with the equivalent of four kilotons of TNT and fell around Sutter’s Mill, birthplace of the California Gold Rush. Scientists and meteor hunters alike quickly hunted down a few of the fallen fragments just before rain hit, allowing them an unprecedented look at the most pristine sample of a rare type of carbon-rich asteroid yet found.

Now a study published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science shows that all that hustle paid off. The Sutter's Mill meteor shows chemical evidence of a complex formation history -- evidence that would have been wiped out by the rain, said lead author Peter Jenniskens, a meteor astronomer at the NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute in Mountain View.

Meteorites are chunks of the asteroids that fall to Earth, and they give planetary scientists a look back into the solar system’s history. Scientists think these far-out bits of rocky debris may have originally brought organic molecules, the building blocks for life, to Earth.

The Sutter’s Mill meteorite, which came in at a blazing 28.6 kilometers per second -- nearly 64,000 miles per hour -- weighed roughly 44 tons just before burning up and exploding in the Earth’s atmosphere. Tracked using Doppler weather radar imaging, it rained in countless pieces over an area roughly 7 kilometers by 4 kilometers, Jenniskens said.

“It was like a hailstorm of stones over gold country,” Jenniskens said.

Continue reading...

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December 7, 2012 - Flash of Light in Houston Most Likely Bolide

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Witnesses report bright flash in sky over Houston.

Below is a report that was submitted to MUFON.  Below the report is a video that I received from another witness. -SW


MUFON Case # 44386
Date of Event:     12/07/2012
Time of Event:  06:45 UTC
Location: Pasadena, Texas
Viewing Distance:  20 Feet or Less
Sighting Duration: Undisclosed
Object Shape:      Flash
Weather Factors     Unknown
Summary: No UFO seen. Witness to blinding flash of light in Houston area this morning.

Report:
Between 6:45-6:50 am on 12/7/12 I saw a huge flash of white light that seemed to be at ground level as I was driving to work. It was big enough that I instinctively hit my brakes thinking something was coming at me. Once the car was stopped I looked all around me and did not see the source of the light or any activity in the area that could have been the cause. I then looked to the sky and still saw nothing except for a pretty sunrise. My car window was all the way down and there was no sound to go with the light. I started driving again and continued to look for the source in the immediate area and found none. I then thought it might have come from one of the refineries along 225 and looked there once I got to the freeway. Again, I saw no sign of what could have caused the light. I promptly forgot about the situation until a few hours later when a friend posted an article about it on Facebook. On that thread another person and I started talking about how we both saw the light at the same time. She also thought it was at ground level and not from the sky. The posted article stated that "experts" were claiming the flash came from a meteor. The other person that was posting that she saw it was almost 40 miles away from me in Richmond, TX (near Cinco Ranch, TX she said) when she saw the same flash of light.

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Houston, Texas
12/7/2012

A witness saw and recorded a bright flash of light, Southeast Houston Area. 



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What's Up For December Skies

Constellations
Courtesy oneminuteastronomer.com

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Each month there is something magical about our night skies.  You just have to look up to see the wonder and beauty of the universe.

Jupiter at Opposition

A Cassini image of Jupiter and
Europa's shadow.

(Dec. 3, 2012) The big planet will be at its closest approach to Earth, with it's face fully illuminated by the Sun. If you have a large telescope and camera, there is no better time to view and photograph Jupiter and its many moons.




Switching partners

At the start of December, Saturn and Venus began moving away from each other, until Saturn takes on the waning crescent Moon, as it's new partner.  Before daybreak on December 10, Saturn and the moon will partner up and then before the sun rises on Dec. 11, Venus will once again partner up with the Moon.

Shooting stars

Watch from late evening to early morning hours, the Geminid meteor shower (Dec. 4-17), which will peak on the night of Dec. 13-14.  At it's best, the Geminids could possibly produce up to 120 meteors per hour and will appear to radiate from the constellation Gemini (thus the name).
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Sources:

One Minute Astronomer

Jupiter- Wikipedia

Meteor Showers Online

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Update! Photos of Meteor-like Objects Over Round Rock, Texas - 10/27/2012

I received an email from a witness who took photos of objects in the skies over Round Rock, Texas, on October 27, 2012.  Are they jets, or something else?

Here is the unedited report.  The photos were provided by the witness, which I have cropped in order for the objects to be viewed.


Location: Round Rock, Texas
Date of Sighting: 10/27/2012
Time of Sighting: 6:52 p.m.

Hi,
   I was wondering if you have any info on air traffic or space debris that could be seen from Round Rock last night around 7pm. We were in Round Rock west at the Deep Wood Elementary Harvest Hoedown last night and saw something strange in the north and west sky. My daughter called me from the playground and invited me to come watch the meteor shower with her. I looked up and saw what I though was a plane far off in the west sky. It had a bright trail and wasn't moving at an expected speed, honestly it reminded me of a comet. I knew it wasn't and was suspicious of there being a meteor shower due to the fact that I keep a close eye on weather reports and had not seen any mention of any such events. I looked around for shooting stars and saw nothing. My eyes went back to where the plane was and it and it's tail were gone. I thought nothing of it and met up with my daughter. I asked her where she saw the meteors and she said they were above the school but were gone. She said she had seen several and then showed me some pictures on her phone she had snapped. That's when I realizes that these were not typical shooting stars. I'm guessing it was jets from an air show or military practice but I can't find any reports that support my theory. I'd like to know what this was. Thanks for the help,
[Name withheld by SW/LITS]


Note:   So far, I have not found any reports related to this sighting, nor did I find any information concerning air shows in the area. 
If you have any information concerning this sighting, please contact me.  Thanks! -Sunny


UPDATE! Another witness sent in a photo.  She wrote that her daughter took the photo on Saturday, October 17, 2012.

Witness photo.  Click image to enlarge.

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Explosion in NW Louisiana not a meteor, or ammo explosion

Video Link

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There is a coverup going on in Louisiana and it appears to be on the scale of the Roswell conspiracy.

Monday, October 15 at 11:30 p.m., an explosion rattled the small town of Minden, in Webster Parish, Louisiana. Before the explosion, witnesses report seeing lights and flashes in the sky, including low flying fighter jets.   One witness saw a strange craft and reported it to MUFON.  That report is included below.

Local Webster Parish Sheriff Gary Sexton said, "Definitely had something happen."  He added, " that all the explosion manufacturing facilities and natural gas facilities in Webster Parish are ruled out as a cause."

The local meteorologist goes on to refute the meteor theory, saying, "Checking with the National Weather Service, if it were a meteor, and yes we are in a meteor shower period, the Orionids, but I don't think there would be a piece of that, that would make it to the earth without vaporizing.  But if it did, radar did not pick up a streak, which it normally would."

He goes on to say, "But, we had an eye witness report who left her home in Dixie Inn, to drive to find whatever it was that hit and she reported ashes falling onto her car but they were heavy enough that they sounded like small hail. The weather service did confirm right after that explosion, their radar picked up what would be called a low cloud, or a debris field."  He also states that the radar picked the debris up, through four revolutions.

With the dawn of a new day, Tuesday morning, October 16th, the coverup had begun. The story now is that a bunker exploded at local military munitions plant (Camp Minden), despite the previous statements made by the Sheriff, ruling out the possibility of a munitions explosion.

An anonymous photographer captured aerial footage of the aftermath, which clearly shows 2 impact points, debris and an idle train that was also impacted and blown over. Despite what the claims are, the train was not moving at the time. The video is evidence of that as well.


 

Video Link

 

Video Link


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Witness in Castor, Louisiana reports UFO Observed flying towards the area of impact, shortly before the explosion occurred. Here is that report submitted to MUFON.

Drawing submitted by witness.

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Case Number 43300
Log Number US-10162012-0013
Date Submitted 10/16/2012 10:00 UTC
Date of the Event 10/15/2012 12:00 UTC
Source MUFON
Disposition Unresolved
Summary    object flew over house. had blueish aura all around it. could only see outline of craft.

Sighting Location City Castor
Region Louisiana
Country United States
Latitude 32.254489 Longitude -93.164592 The latitude and longitude presented here is an approximation to protect the reporters identity
Sighting Specifics
Viewing Distance 101-500 Feet
Sighting Duration Undisclosed
Object Features Dome
Object Flight Path Straight-line path
Object Shape Disc, Unknown
Weather Factors Unknown

Sighting Details

was outside cleaning out pickup truck, walked toward porch, bright blue light caught my eye, stopped and watched as craft flew from over house toward NW. ran inside, got my wife, but it was gone. hours later, heard loud boom, shook house, news channel reports the same in 40 or so mile raius of my house. NWS reports debris cloud, and debris plume of mile high around dixie inn louisiana. drew as detailed a picture as i could. did not scare me, no terrifyinf feeling, glow was almost warm in nature.

Image Links:
http://www.mufoncms.com/files/43300_submitter_file1__ufo1.jpg
http://www.mufoncms.com/files/43300_submitter_file2__ufo2.jpg

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So what do you think?  Do you believe this was a bunker explosion, a meteor, or was it a crashed UFO? -Sunny

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The Orionid Meteor Shower Begins Tonight

Best time to view the meteor shower will be between 3:00 a.m. and sunrise, or at least 2 hours before dawn.

The Orionid meteor shower begins tonight and will peak Saturday, Oct. 21, 2012.

Tonight the Earth will begin to pass through a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, treating sky watchers to one of the most dazzling meteor showers of the year.

Though not the strongest, the Orionids are truly one of the most beautiful annual meteor showers.  But be prepared as the Orionid meteoroids are some of the fastest, clocking in at 148,000 mph as they hit the earth's atmosphere.

These meteors are called Orionids because they appear to come from a small spot in the sky, near the shoulder of Orion (the constellation), and these meteoroids fan out across the entire sky.  Weather permitting, it should be a fantastic show.

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