Meteor strike injures hundreds in central Russia

Discussion in 'Latest US & World News' started by MGB ROADSTER, Feb 15, 2013.

  1. MGB ROADSTER

    MGB ROADSTER Banned

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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21468116

    A meteor crashing in Russia's Ural mountains has injured at least 950 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.

    Most of those hurt, in the Chelyabinsk region where the meteor fell, suffered cuts and bruises but at least 46 remain in hospital.

    A fireball streaked through the clear morning sky, followed by loud bangs.

    President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.

    A large meteor fragment landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in Chelyabinsk region.

    The meteor's dramatic passing was witnessed in Yekaterinburg, 200km (125 miles) to the north, and in Kazakhstan, to the south.

    I am sure that all of us send our wishes to the injured.
    What would have happened if the meteor was 10 times bigger ?
     
  2. skeptic-f

    skeptic-f New Member

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    Thanks for the post. It wasn't really political, but it was very interesting. Maybe a discussion of the continued underfunding of Skywatch in the United States would be in order?
     
  3. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I came across an article in a foreign newspaper that said Russian defense shot down the meteor and broke it into pieces so it wouldn't hit a populated area. Has anyone else come across this, or are our papers discarding it for some reason or other. :confuse:
     
  4. truth and justice

    truth and justice Well-Known Member

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    Seems highly unlikely IMO. I would have thought that it was much too small to be shot down. I don't think anyone knew it was coming
     
  5. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yet they keep posting article after article about it, and even have a video showing a missile striking it. I wish I could link it but the translation is impossible to understand. I guess we'll have to wait and see what our State Department will say about it...if anything. :spin:
     
  6. Gemini_Fyre

    Gemini_Fyre New Member

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    Don't think enough meteor strikes warrant such a massive defense system. And it is a "big ass sky" to quote the movie Armageddon.
     
  7. Gorn Captain

    Gorn Captain Banned

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    Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer today on Fox immediately announced their suspicions that the meteor was Muslim.

    :)
     
  8. Dark Star

    Dark Star Senior Admin Staff Member Donor

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    Too small to be detected in time to react, and probably moving too fast to be intercepted by a chemical rocket. Something like 14 kilometers per second, I think, according to the BBC. I don't know if the software for any existing ABM system can track and hit a target that small moving that fast. And even if it could, as you say, nobody had any way of knowing it was coming until it got here.

    There's just nothing we can do about objects this size. They're too small. Every now and then, one of them is going to nail us somewhere, and there's not a thing to be done about it except to make a mental note not to be underneath one when it arrives. Any national or multi-national effort to minimize the risks from an asteroid strike would be better dedicated to focusing on the really large ones, and frankly, even those sneak past us sometimes without warning. There are currently something like 1400 known near-Earth objects regarded as potentially hazardous, and probably thousands more that we don't know about until they zip past us. It's just a matter of time.
     
    Jazz and (deleted member) like this.
  9. Marlowe

    Marlowe New Member

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    I see no reason to think that "WE " - we'd be able to do anything about the bigger - I mean real BIG-uns either . THere are forces out there far beyond our control.

    Keep you fingers crossed and hope your city dont get a direct hit.

    THat's Life and things happen

    (beyond our control).

    (wink)
     
  10. PropagandaMachine

    PropagandaMachine New Member

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    The the occurrence of meteors in such close proximity to Earth right now puts in perspective our petty hate for one another.
     
  11. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Oh no! Don't tell me they're sending in meteors now? Eek! :eekeyes:

    Then again it could be the Zionists? Eek, eek! :eekeyes: :eekeyes::
     
  12. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Could they have a computorized defense system that would shoot things down automatically? The foreign site that said it is quite knowledgable about defense, although I'm not. :confused:
     
  13. catalinacat

    catalinacat Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I was wondering that too - usually a meteor does not explode on it's own - unless there is an impact first. Glad no one was killed - what a sight!
     
  14. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    What's worse is having a large one hit a body of water. I once read that a meteor the size of a small mountain would send a tidal wave around the world three times. Best they stick to Siberia. :hiding:
     
  15. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    According to the Russian papers, people were wounded by shattered glass, when they went to the windows to see what the explosion was. :confuse:
     
  16. gamewell45

    gamewell45 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The results would have been catstrophic.
     
  17. Gemini_Fyre

    Gemini_Fyre New Member

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    Perhaps if they have something like the Watch Tower out of DC comics, and perhaps superman and the green lantern to help out. But reality of money and practicality shuts this down....and the lack of superman and the green lantern, and the Watch Tower...

    My speculation is that they could, but it would be obscenely expensive. But it would work equally well if not better for nuclear missile defense. Although railguns can easily thwart that as well.

    Basically to triangulate the position of it when it moves at 15k a second means you have limited time to react, and then it only matters if you have enough ordinance to deal with it - what are we talking here, standard hellfire or a 1k tactical warhead? Objects of all sizes fall out of the sky. And people will get real antsy when you start flinging nukes around, and the emp afterwards will cause a greater catastrophe than the meteorite would because of how technologically dependent we are.

    Overall, just not realistic. Perhaps if we lived on mars it would be more practical. They get pummeled all the time due to proximity to the asteroid belt.
     
  18. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If it was split by Russian Defense, then it would have split a larger one as well. The pieces would have been larger and the damage would have been greater, but it would not have been catastrophic..or at least I don't think so. At least not if it hit Siberia, which has a very low population. Now had it hit anywhere else......wow!:fingerscrossed:
     
  19. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Are the gods throwing rocks at us. I came across this in Russia Today::confuse:

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


    Meteorite-like object reportedly spotted in Cuba
    An object reportedly fell from the sky and exploded loudly over the province of Cienfuegos in southern Cuba, the local TV service Rodas cites eyewitnesses as saying. Residents described the object as being comparable in size to a bus, adding that their houses shook following the explosion. Cuban specialists are examining the scene for potential remains of the object. No damages or injuries have been reported.


    http://rt.com/news/line/2013-02-15/#id45233
     
  20. AlphaOmega

    AlphaOmega Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    First thats not true, they often do explode in the air. This is what happened in 1908. Second no way any human built system could shoot something down travelling at that velocity. Even if they were capable of hitting something traveliing at 33000 mph the missile would be instantly vaporized before it had a chance to expode. Most people cant comprehend the velocity these things travel at. To think a missile could hit one and do anything at all is silly. It breaks apart due to the velocity it is travelling at and it skips at first like a rock on a pond until is smashes into our atmosphere and breaks apart.

    So to clarify, this was travelling at a minimum speed of 9.1 miles per "second". If Russia has a missile system out there that can hit and destroy a target travelling at that velocity, they have discovered how to manipulate the laws of physics.
     
  21. Indofred

    Indofred Banned at Members Request

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    Yes - big style.
     
  22. dudeman

    dudeman New Member

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    I heard that USA researchers were working on a super-magnet to draw asteroids containing high iron content towards towards "undesirable countries".
     
  23. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The official reports are that no one has the technology to shoot a meteor, but some Russian papers are saying the government is being sly, so as not to disclose their defense capabilities. :machinegun: :flame:
     
  24. Jeannette

    Jeannette Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Aha! So that's why the meteors hit Russia and Cuba? Interesting! :confuse:
     
  25. SiliconMagician

    SiliconMagician Banned

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    Rissian media is a lie. It has always lied, and it pushes conspiracy theories and outright fabrications. The average russian has no touch on reality. They live in the country that inspired Orwell. Russia is Oceania.
     

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