Apr 21
The time is upon us for this year’s Lyrid meteor shower, which takes place every April, with this year’s shower expected to peak early tomorrow morning. While there’s nothing quite … Continue reading
Apr 03
According to geologist Hans Amundsen—of the Natural History Museum in Oslo—you’re looking at the first ever film of a meteorite falling through its dark flight stage. The lucky guy who filmed it was skydiver Anders Helstrup, who survived the encounter unscathed.
     |
Feb 12
Pictures of rockets, meteors and the Milky Way are all amazing. But one with all three makes for an overwhelming image indeed.
| |
Nov 07
NASA says Chelyabinsk-like meteor strike 7x more likely than previously believed
Posted in: Today's ChiliOne of the most damaging meteor strikes in recorded history occurred earlier this year over the frigid Russian town of Chelyabinsk. The meteor injured as many as 1000 people when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere over the Russian city creating shockwaves that shattered windows and rained shards of debris on people in the city. Scientists […]
Oct 19
If you follow the sometimes strange happenings to do with space and science in general, you probably remember back on February 15th of this year when a massive meteorite entered the atmosphere over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk injuring hundreds of people when shock waves created by the meteorite blew windows out of buildings. Russian authorities knew that a large meteorite fragment had broken through the frozen surface of Lake Chebarkul and plunged into the icy depths.
Russian authorities have finally gotten around to searching out that meteorite fragment and what they discovered is incredible. Divers were able to pull a half-ton meteorite fragment out of the frigid depths of the lake. Scientists estimate that the meteorite weighed 10,000 tons when it entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
The large fragment reportedly fractured into three parts during the trip from the bottom of the lake. Once the rock reached the surface and was weighed it was found to tip the scales at 1,255 pounds. Doctor Caroline Smith, the curator of meteorites at the London Natural History Museum, was able to confirm that the rock was a meteorite from visible features seen in images of the fragment such as a fusion crust. The fusion crust forms as the meteorite is traveling through the Earth’s atmosphere as a fireball.
I can’t help but wonder how much the giant meteorite is worth considering even small fragments were selling for significant amounts of money before Russian authorities confiscated them earlier this year.
[via BBC]
Oct 18
One of the scary things about the asteroids that zip around our solar system is that scientists simply don’t know all of them that are out there. While the chances of a gigantic asteroid smashing into the Earth with enough force to wipe us out is slim, the Earth is pelted with smaller asteroids all the time. Just ask the Russians what sort of damage a small asteroid can make when it goes meteor and enters the atmosphere.
Another asteroid was recently discovered that passed impressively close to the Earth – on a cosmic scale. The asteroid zipped past the Earth in September but was only discovered this month. That means it made its close pass by the Earth and no one even knew it. Even more interesting is the fact that the asteroid’s orbit will bring the 1300 foot diameter projectile back to Earth in 2032.
Some early reports indicated that the asteroid has a chance of smashing into the Earth, unleashing a force of “thousands” of atomic bombs. NASA was quick to step in and put some of the fears to rest with the prediction that there’s only a 1:63,000 chance that the asteroid will hit the earth about 20 years from now. NASA went so far as to say that it was 99.998% sure asteroid 2013 TV135 will uneventfully zip past the Earth again in 2032. That prediction of a 1:63,000 chance doesn’t do much to make me feel better considering people hit the lottery every month with odds often much more remote than that.
[via CNN]
Sep 07
In the predawn hours of August 28, a NASA video network consisting of five cameras located in the southeast United States recorded a massive fireball. The fireball was a meteor that entered the atmosphere of Earth over the Georgia/Tennessee border at 3:27 AM, moving at a speed of 56,000 mph.
NASA reports that the meteor begin to break apart the skies northeast of Ocoee, Tennessee at an altitude of 33 miles. By the time NASA lost track of the meteor, it had descended to an altitude of 21 miles and slowed to speed of only 19,400 mph. NASA estimates of the rock was about two-feet wide and weighed over 100 pounds.
Even cooler than the gigantic fireball streaking through the Earth’s atmosphere and getting caught on video is the fact that it briefly outshined the moon. Doppler weather radar in the area also reported a rain of meteor fragments falling to the ground east of Cleveland, Tennessee.
I wonder how long before we see this on an episode of Meteorite Men.
[via Space.com]
Aug 18
Look there were a lot of options. NASA streamed
| |
Aug 09
Hey nerds, get some fresh air this weekend: there’s gonna be hunks of burning rock falling from the sky.
Image courtesy of Roberto Porto
Source: Wired
Jul 25
Winning a gold medal is one of the highest achievements in sports, the beautiful round medallion rewards years of hard work and confirms an athlete’s status as the very best. Russia is going to sweeten the deal a bit in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (no, they’re not wrapping chocolate inside), with extra medals that have pieces of the meteorite that crashed in Russia earlier this year will be given to the gold medal winners.
| |
Who's in charge here?
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.