A big meteorite, tens of tons, exploded near Chelyabinsk, a city near Ural mountains, causing a shockwave which smashed a lot of windows and left 250 people injured. News in English here, they have a video as well (though they've replaced the audio track, since the original one contained what the driver really said when he saw that). Some yellow press already reported (Russian link, use Translate) that it was actually UFO crash, citing Federal Meteorology Service. It worth noting that "Guys from Chelyabinsk" is a meme here, close to a meaning of Chuck Norris meme with the addition of Detroit flavor. So jokes about St. Valentines firework and locals playing soccer are queued already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7c-0iwBEswE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa6l_8CmESk&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nOaRpF0DJk&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0cRHsApzt8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yj8tfuQ1i8&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpK8Srrx5-w&feature=player_embedded Some links of the meteorite cought on tape. Funny how in most videos you can hear the same Russian comment "nichuja sibia" and after that people are just casually walking or driving away..
It's worth keeping in mind when watching the videos that it wouldn't have looked quite so dramatic to the human eye; while the camera gets overexposed the eye would adapt.
That's pretty rad. We're lucky most countries - when seen from afar - consist of a bunch of landscape, with little population centres as concentrated spots in between. Lots of missing oportunity for any incoming projectile.
Well, this one exploded right above a densely populated city, 27 kilometers (16 miles) above the ground. People there are just extremely lucky that it didn't hit the ground or exploded about couple of miles from the surface. There would be a small Tunguska incident right in the center of the city. A small reminder for everyone that there are some real dangers in the Universe, much more real than Satan or Global Warming...
Ah yes, my mistake, I read "Urals" and assumed mostly small populations. I always find strange to imagine large cities in such remote places, but yes, that is lucky. That's a huge lot of potential annihilation, manifesting in merely broken windows and some injuries.
Dude, you can get there by car - so by local standards it's not that remote The whole Ural area is the biggest metallurgical and industrial center in Russia since Peter the Great, no wonder there are big cities there. Sorry, couldn't resist playing a bit of Education Man
No, no, that's fine, I don't take offense being told things I wasn't aware of. Also, the city is situated much further south than I first imagined, I had no clue of course, I had to look it up. As soon as I saw it situated almost on the southern border, of course it makes sense that it is well populated. It's just "Ural" give quick associations to vast, remote forests Some of those clips are amazing by the way. Quite dramatic.
Huh, I live in Alaska. Good thing it didn't fall a little eaerlier, or later. Forget which it would be.
It is already believed that this might have been a rocket intercepting another one. Zoomed-in 'footage' shows an object flying into the meteor, causing an explosion, and then casually flying away. Funnily enough, searches for the remains of this 'meteor' involved 20 thousand soldiers but have suddenly stopped.
Sure, the astronomically small chance of a meteorite/asteroid crashing into Earth and doing major damage is a far bigger danger than global warming. Where do we find these new members?