Huge fireball explodes over Atlantic as meteor flies into Earth from space

[Tab]

Source: Independet (UK)



A huge fireball crashed into the Atlantic this week, unleashing the same amount of energy as the first atomic bomb, and barely anyone noticed.

A meteor flew into the atmosphere about 600 miles off the coast of Brazil. As it did so, it exploded in the air and unleashed a huge blaze in the Atlantic sky — but nobody was really around to see it.

Even despite the huge power of the explosion, scientists said that the explosion would have caused few problems even if it happened near people.
...
The explosion was the most powerful since a fireball exploded over Chelyabinsk. That injured 1,6000 people when it exploded in February 2013.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/huge-fireball-explodes-over-atlantic-as-meteor-flies-into-earth-from-space-a6892921.html

[titaniumsalute]

1. Wow how weird

Last night I was sleeping and had a dream I saw a huge meteor flying over. I pointed it out to the person I was talking to and rememebered thinking "GEe that thing is going to really blow or cause damage somewhere."

I don't believe in premonitions or anything but what a weird coincidence.

[FailureToCommunicate]

3. Do please let us know next time, okay?

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. We had a DU thread about it on Sunday; it happened Feb 6th

The Independent has just got it wrong when it says "this week". They quote Phil Plait, but his Slate column says it happened Feb 6th: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/02/20/fireball_over_atlantic_ocean_on_february_6_2016.html

Here's the DU thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/122845494

[William Seger]

16. I had a dream last night

... about the Space Shuttle releasing small balls to create multi-colored artificial meteors.

[Marty McGraw]

22. I had a weird dream

about programmable charged clouds that can drop on buildings at any unsuspected moment and fry the crap out of it.

somethin' in the air lately perhaps? damn those chemtrails.

oh oh.. now that word will probably flag the NSA's attention. whoops!

[William Seger]

23. Cloudrone (tm)

[joshdawg]

2. "barely anyone noticed."

Maybe they were too busy keeping up with what was happening on The Bachelor or Keeping up with the Kartrashians.

[kentauros]

5. "flies into Earth from space"

We should hope any meteor is coming from space

[christx30]

8. It would have been weird if it had

flown in from Pasadena.

[kentauros]

9. And as a low-mileage meteor.

[Tab]

17. Solar powered, perhaps

But what's the point from going from Pasadena into the Brazilian ocean?

[kentauros]

24. Maybe it was late to a convention

with a Brazilian other meteors.

[awoke_in_2003]

25. And boy

are its arms tired.

[AtheistCrusader]

11. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a meteor, would it?

[Jester Messiah]

6. Oh no... not again! n/t

[yuiyoshida]

7. Question

does anyone know if it generated a Tsunami? I am curious...

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. No; it exploded 31km up

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/02/20/fireball_over_atlantic_ocean_on_february_6_2016.html

But I don't think an explosion at sea level would generate a true tsunami. From the point of an explosion, you'd get normal waves, radiating out as circles, and losing height as they go out. For instance:

The Baker nuclear test at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 was a shallow underwater explosion, part of Operation Crossroads. A 20 kiloton warhead was detonated in a lagoon which was approximately 200 ft (61 m) deep.
...
A series of surface waves moved outwards from the center. The first wave was about 94 ft (29 m) high at 1,000 ft (300 m) from the center. Other waves followed, and at further distances some of these were higher than the first wave. For example, at 22,000 ft (6,700 m) from the center, the ninth wave was the highest at 6 ft (1.8 m).
...
The heights of surface waves generated by deep underwater explosions are greater because more energy is delivered to the water. During the Cold War, underwater explosions were thought to operate under the same principles as tsunamis, potentially increasing dramatically in height as they move over shallow water, and flooding the land beyond the shoreline.[6] Later research and analysis suggested that water waves generated by explosions were different from those generated by tsunamis and landslides. Méhauté et al. conclude in their 1996 overview Water Waves Generated by Underwater Explosion that the surface waves from even a very large offshore undersea explosion would expend most of their energy on the continental shelf, resulting in coastal flooding no worse than that from a bad storm.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_explosion

[yuiyoshida]

18. Gah! "The first wave was about 94 ft"

That's too scary, and my nightmare scenario.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. But the point is that it was under 6ft by the time you're 7km away

At 300m from the point an atomic bomb explodes, a 94ft wave is just one of many problems.

[yuiyoshida]

20. A giant meteor hitting the ocean would probably

cause a vast waves..and that could happen anywhere..

[AtheistCrusader]

12. Earth is big and humans don't live in very many places on it, news at 11.

Not being snarky, just observing the odds.

[ffr]

13. Hardly just dust and gas out there

I hear that said all the time in stories or by scientists. I think it just looks like dust and gas from 4 trillion light years away. In my opinion, it's really rocks, boulders, mountain sized objects, and planets. When they say our part of the galaxy will be having one of these clouds of dust and gas pass through it, but then you see stuff like this, it makes you wonder.

[Orrex]

14. This is probably what's killing all the sea stars

SCIENCE!

[valerief]

15. Oh noes! Alien terrorists! We need 5 trillion FAST for WAR!!!!!!! nt

[Dustlawyer]

21. I was driving with a friend on the lonely highway between Port St. Joe, Florida to Apalachicola,

Florida around 2 a.m. a few years ago. The road is lined with fairly tall pine trees which limits the view of the sky to a narrow band. Suddenly, a ball of fire the size of a big house arches across our vision heading into the Gulf of Mexico. We were so totally freaked out, but disappointed that we could not see the impact in the water. It was one of the most amazing natural phenomena I have ever witnessed!