Five more things about that 7,000 ton flaming meteor that fell to Earth
By macleans.ca - Saturday, February 23, 2013 - 0 Comments
Five more things about that meteor that crashed to Earth last week in Russia:…
Five more things about that meteor that crashed to Earth last week in Russia:
- The meteor has been identified as a chrondite, the Voice of Russia reports. “The fragments contain a standard number of minerals, including olivine, pyroxene, troilite and kamacite,” scientist Viktor Grokhovsky told the news organization. “These minerals that can be discovered only in outer space confirm the fragments’ extraterrestrial nature.”
- The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is warning consumers to be on the lookout for fake meteor samples. “We’ve had reports from coast to coast and the pitch is always the same,” said an FTC spokesman. “A person carrying a small paper sack strikes up a conversation by saying, “Hey buddy — how’d you like to own a piece of galactic history?
- Meanwhile, the Russian Academy of Sciences and the State University of Chelyabinsk are offering rewards for certifiable meteorites.
- Mashable reports that collectively all the eyewitness meteor videos attracted more than 130 million viewers last weekend — “the vastest rate of viral growth ever seen for an online video event.”
- Speaking of what’s real and not, a Moscow paper suggests that almost half of the Russians polled suggested they believed the meteor was not a meteor, but in fact some sort of “secret weapon test, alien spacecraft, ballistic missile, message from God, an extraterrestrial Trojan horse carrying a deadly space virus to wipe out Earth.” Now you are up to date.
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Surprise — those $17 pieces of Russian meteor might not be real
By Emily Senger - Monday, February 18, 2013 at 12:45 PM - 0 Comments
As scientists test 53 meteor fragments at Urals Federal University, scammers hawk fakes online
Russian scientists say they have begun testing multiple fragments of a meteor that crashed near the Ural-mountain city of Chelyabinsk. And, as scientists test the real fragments, officials say they are investigating online scams in which vendors are selling fake meteorite pieces.
Many of the real fragments have been located by scientists near Chebarkul Lake, about 80 km from Chelyabinsk. One of the scientists involved in the meteorite recovery told Bloomburg News that they have found 53 meteor fragments, which are now being tested.
The meteorite also created a hole in the lake ice, but divers have not yet located a larger chunk of meteorite under water. The pieces discovered so far are all small, and range in size from 1 millimetre to one centimetre. Continue…
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The very latest on that 7,000-ton space rock that fell to Earth
By macleans.ca - Sunday, February 17, 2013 at 9:08 AM - 0 Comments
From the morning papers, here’s the latest on the meteor that left some 1,200…
From the morning papers, here’s the latest on the meteor that left some 1,200 people injured in Chelybinsk, Russia:
1. The AFP reports that Russian divers have had no luck trying to locate the 7,000-ton space rock. Fishermen had identified an eight-metre-wide hole in the frozen surface of Lake Chebarkul. Officials have called off the search to focus on repairs in the area.
2. While the official search has been diverted, meteor hunters are on the trail. The Australian Broadcasting Corportation reports that several Russian websites feature ads offering up to $10,000 for a piece of the space rock.
3. Five thousand buildings are said to have been damaged by the meteor. The AFP reports that some 24,000 emergency workers are helping to replace “200,000 square metres” of smashed windows. The governor of the region puts damage at about $33 million.
4. NASA suggests the meteor exploded with the force of 500 kilotons of TNT.
5. Forty people remain in hospital, two in serious condition, the Rossiya Channel reports.
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Why are there so many dashboard camera videos of the Russian meteor?
By Lindsey Wiebe - Friday, February 15, 2013 at 11:55 AM - 0 Comments
In a climate of police mistrust, dash-cams mean justice
Should a meteor streak across the skies over North America in the near future, the best we could likely expect for video documentation might be the handiwork of some speedy smartphone users, or footage from security cameras in nearby buildings.
So how did Russia end up with so much video evidence of the meteor? The answer, as we’ve seen, is the country’s proliferation of dashboard cameras. And it turns out Russia’s enthusiasm for dash-cams is well-documented.
“Dash-cam footage is the only real way to substantiate your claims in the court of law,” writes Marina Galperina in a report in Animal New York. “Forget witnesses. Hit and runs are very common and insurance companies notoriously specialize in denying claims.” (Warning: link contains a dash-cam thesaurus, which contains the sort of salty language you might expect in reactions to horrific collisions.)
Roughly a million Russians have them, reports Al Jazeera: “The main reason they’re so popular in Russia is because of a deep distrust of police, and a widespread belief of corruption in the legal system,” says host Charles Stratford.
For those considering a dash-cam of their own, Amazon has them by the dozen, at a range of price points. “Lots of idiots on the road, gets down to He said She Said deal, so basically this is insurance for your insurance, and piece of mind,” writes one satisfied customer.
And for the very brave, here’s a compilation from Jalopnik of the craziest Russian dash-cam videos of 2012.
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Canadian playing professional hockey in Russia jolted from bed by meteor blast
By The Canadian Press - Friday, February 15, 2013 at 11:47 AM - 0 Comments
CHELYABINSK, Russia – Michael Garnett had hit the snooze button on his alarm clock,…
CHELYABINSK, Russia – Michael Garnett had hit the snooze button on his alarm clock, hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep before heading to hockey practice Friday morning, when a tremendous blast jolted him out of bed.
The walls of his apartment in Chelyabinsk — the biggest city affected by a meteor that streaked over Russia’s Ural Mountains — were shuddering as he heard glass shattering and car alarms going off outside.
“My light fixtures were swaying back and forth. At that point I was just terrified,” said the Saskatoon native, who plays in the professional Kontinental Hockey League for the Traktor Chelyabinsk.
“I thought either it was an explosion or a plane crash.”
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Video: Flaming meteor crashes in Russia, injures roughly 1,000
By Emily Senger - Friday, February 15, 2013 at 1:11 AM - 0 Comments
Windows shatter as meteor explodes in the sky
A meteor zipped through the sky and crashed near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk at 9:23 a.m. local time Friday morning, injuring roughly 1,000 people.
Multiple citizens in the city of about 46,000 near the Ural mountains captured video of the incident, which showed a trail of smoke through the sky, ending in a giant fireball.
Videos like this (which, be warned, probably contains much cursing in Russian):
