The sky's going to fall on our heads!
The sky's going to fall on our heads!
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bigandclever

Original Poster:

14,395 posts

268 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
This is probably a topic for the nerds smile


Well, that was close....

Meteosat-8 Rapid Scan captures asteroid impact

2008 TC3 was discovered on 6 October by astronomers using the Mt. Lemmon telescope in Arizona as part of the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey for near-Earth objects. Asteroids the size of 2008 TC3 hit Earth a few times a year, but what is special about this event is that it is the first time one has been discovered before it hit.

The asteroid exploded with the energy of around one kiloton, equal to the power of a small nuclear bomb. Infrasound detector arrays in Kenya also detected a sound wave from the direction of the expected impact corresponding to the energy of 1.1-2.1 kilotons of TNT.

http://www.eumetsat.int/Home/Main/Media/Features/7...

bob1179

14,139 posts

239 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
OK, I am a nerd...

That is actually really interesting stuff, I'm not sure if I missed where it is mentioned, but it doesn't seem to say how large the object actually was, it just mentioned that objects of a similar size enter the Earths atmosphere several times a year. Any ideas how large it was?

smile

mechsympathy

58,737 posts

285 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
bob1179 said:
ny ideas how large it was?
+1 etc.

And how long did it burn for? Presumably if it was travelling at 12km/second it was only a few seconds at most.

L100NYY

36,795 posts

273 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
Well butter my bottom and call me a biscuit!

Einion Yrth

19,575 posts

274 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
bob1179 said:
OK, I am a nerd...

That is actually really interesting stuff, I'm not sure if I missed where it is mentioned, but it doesn't seem to say how large the object actually was, it just mentioned that objects of a similar size enter the Earths atmosphere several times a year. Any ideas how large it was?

smile
between 2 and 5 metres in diameter.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

314 months

Tuesday 14th October 2008
quotequote all
Was going to post a story at the time but seeing as where it was coming down didn't think it was worth it.