Comments on: UPDATE on the big UK fireball

By: Al Feersum

Al Feersum — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:59:03 +0000

I find it odd that no-one has yet speculated on how bad this could have been. Sure, it may have been a tiny lump of rock skimming the atmosphere, but nobody saw it coming. What if it were a 50 metre nickel-iron asteroid? Or 100-200 metre M type? What kind of damage would it do if it actually hit us?

Sure, if it hit the land it’d be pretty unpleasant, especially in an area of seismic instability, but 2/3rds of the Earth’s surface is water, or ocean, so there’s effectively a 2:3 chance of an ocean splash. In a big enough basin, this is going to produce a huge tsunami…

By: UN BOLIDE PRIS EN EXCES DE LENTEUR · EXO-CONTACTS

UN BOLIDE PRIS EN EXCES DE LENTEUR · EXO-CONTACTS — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:27:11 +0000

[...] avancent la possibilité qu’il puisse s’agir d’un astéroïde géocroiseur, c’est-à-dire un corps sur une orbite proche de celle de la Terre et qui coupe [...]

By: Marco Langbroek

Marco Langbroek — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:29:21 +0000

@ #12 Michael Wallis:

The Israeli objects are launched in a 144 degree inclined orbit, which *never* brings them over the UK or Belgium.
This was 100% *not* a satellite (the object was too fast any way, in addition to the unlikely retrograde earth-orbit character)

By: Darrell

Darrell — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:35:03 +0000

The behavior of this fireball appears to have some similarity with this one observed in 1860:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2010/06/the-forensic-astronomer-donald-olson.html

By: tommy

tommy — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:43:05 +0000

i believe this traveled north east to south west if you look at the second video on this site http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0922/met…r-ireland.html and then compare it to google maps http://maps.google.ie/maps?hl=en&ll=…12,308.57,,0,3

By: Michael Wallis

Michael Wallis — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:14:51 +0000

A note on retrograde satellites ….

Israel has launched a few satellites using domestically produced launch vehicles. Because of their proximity to, and political differences with, their neighbours, launching eastward was not reasonable. They launch them northwestward, out over the Mediterranean Sea.

Identifying the ground track of the object would prove valuable as the inclination of intersection might yield a path backwards for the UK, over Belgium, towards the Middle East.

By: Cairnos

Cairnos — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:15:39 +0000

Oh, come on. It’s clearly a UFO that ran into a US secret chemtail spraying plane. It’s sadly obvious how all these ‘astronomers’ are part of some vague, ill-defined conspiracy being paid off by ‘Big Alien’ at the behest of Obama to somehow support global warming hysteria for some reason which probably involves taking our guns away.

Back in reality, pity things like this always seem to happen on the opposite side of the darn planet from me.

By: A.J.Rimmer

A.J.Rimmer — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:57:40 +0000

Photos of it from Mandal, Norway.

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/–Meteoritten-lyste-intenst-og-knallgront-6999353.html

By: Josh Andrews

Josh Andrews — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:44:53 +0000

@SkyGazer The Mythbusters experiment doesn’t debunk relative speeds adding because although they combine their speed they also share the damage between the two cars.

Marco’s solution seems inprobable. Given that it had a 1 a.u. orbit which the earth caught up with while it was at perihelion?

By: SkyGazer

SkyGazer — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:11:36 +0000

” if each is moving 100 km/hr then the resulting collision speed is 200 km/hr relative to either car”

Euh… didn´t the Mythbusters do an episode were they smashed a car with 60 miles an hour into a wall? And then another (same make and model) with 120.
And then to see if two cars headon, each going 60 would make the same damage as a 120 into a wall.
And didn´t they find out that each car after the 60 headon looked just like an 60 into wall afterwards.
Might be that I have the 60´s and 120´s wrong, but that´s because you do things in miles and we in proper km´s in the subtitles. But that´s not the point, point is that it simply doesn´t add up.
But maybe that´s due to crumple zones, which meteorites don not posses. Earth does in a way due to it´s atmosphere.

So maybe the Mythbusters should go up there and throw some stones. I´m sure they wouldn´t mind.