meteor

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Moon Smash Could Be Seen From Earth

Big rock slammed into it last month, says NASA

(Newser) - If you happened to be glancing skyward the night of March 17 and noticed a bright flash on the moon, NASA has your explanation: A meteor slammed into it, reports National Geographic . A 90-pound rock hit the moon at 56,000mph, creating an explosion 10 times brighter than any previously...

Scientists Figure Out Russia Meteor's Origin

As biggest piece yet found in Ural Mountains

(Newser) - Turns out there is a cool use for trigonometry: Scientists in Colombia have been able to calculate the trajectory of the meteor that injured 1,000 in Russia this month using data gleaned from local camera footage and a lake landing spot. Once they had determined the meteor's path...

Biggest Piece of 55-Foot Meteor Found So Far: 7mm

And 7mm happens to be just .26 inches

(Newser) - The numbers are pretty staggering: The meteor that rocked Russia last week was the biggest since 1908 , at 55 feet in diameter, estimates NASA. But the largest meteorite found to date by scientists with Ural Federal University measures just 0.26 inches in diameter, reports the Wall Street Journal . And...

Meteor 'Doomsayers' Gain Cred After Russia Blast

Private groups plan to launch detection satellites

(Newser) - Advocates for early space-rock detection are speaking up and sounding a lot less looney since that meteor rocked Russia on Friday, the New York Times reports. At least two private groups are planning to launch satellites for early detection and one wants to mine asteroids for useful metals like platinum....

California Gets Apparent Meteor Show, Too

People around San Francisco report light streaking through sky

(Newser) - A big shooting star wouldn't generally make headlines, but this one in California is doing so because it comes on the heels of what happened in Russia and what didn't happen to Earth . Last night, lots of people in the San Francisco Bay area captured images of a...

After Meteor, Russian Politician Blames ... John Kerry

He says it was an American weapons test

(Newser) - One of the conspiracy theories getting the most attention after yesterday's spectacular meteor show in Russia comes not from a basement blogger but from one of the nation's most well-known, if outlandish, politicians, reports the Voice of Russia . “Those were not meteorites, it was Americans testing their...

Russian Meteor Strike Was Biggest in 100 Years

Sonic shockwave believed to have caused most of the damage

(Newser) - The meteor that struck Russia today was the largest to hit Earth since 1908, releasing hundreds of kilotons of energy, scientists tell Nature . The blast put out so much energy that it was detected by networks designed to pick up infrasound data on nuclear explosions—and indeed, the blast was...

UN Team Unveils Asteroid Defense Plan

On the same day massive rock buzzes the Earth

(Newser) - An asteroid about half the size of a football field will whiz past Earth today, closer than any object of its size ever has before (OK, almost any object ), and a much smaller meteor actually hit Russia this morning, injuring hundreds. But fear not, people of Earth: Soon, we...

Huge Meteor Rocks Russia
 Huge Meteor Rocks Russia 
Feb 15, 2013 7:57 AM CST

Huge Meteor Rocks Russia

950 hurt, 110 hospitalized amid bomb-like damage

(Newser) - A meteor that shattered over Chelyabinsk, Russia, today injured some 950 people, with more than 110 hospitalized, RT reports. Several victims are said to be in "grave" condition, RIA Novosti reports. The 10-ton meteor was traveling at least 33,000mph when it entered the atmosphere, experts say, according to...

New Study Offers Proof: Asteroid Wiped Out Dinos

New study puts mass extinction within 32K years of meteor

(Newser) - Paleontologists and dinosaur nerds have long debated what killed off the "terrible lizards"— one meteor or many , volcanoes , or something else. Now one researcher says he has the answer: an asteroid believed to be about six miles wide that landed in the Caribbean about 66 million years ago....

'Trillions of Carats': Russia Sitting on Diamond Trove

Can supply world for 3K years

(Newser) - Russia is now a girl's best friend: A 62-mile-wide crater in Siberia sits on top of a diamond field that's home to "trillions of carats," scientists say. "By comparison, present-day known reserves" in Russia's Yakutia diamond operations are thought to be in the neighborhood...

Oldest Impact Crater Found in Greenland

Meteorite probably smashed down about 3B years ago

(Newser) - Scientists have uncovered what might be the oldest meteorite crater on Earth. Located in Greenland, it's about 62 miles wide and was likely formed 3 billion years ago when a 19-mile-wide meteorite collided with our planet, reports Space.com . Today, an impact that size likely would wipe out humans....

Meteorite Yields New Ancient Mineral

Panguite found inside 1969 fireball

(Newser) - A mineral new to science but older than our planet has been found in fragments of a meteorite that smashed into northern Mexico in 1969. Panguite was found in bits of the Allende meteorite by Caltech researchers who used an electron-scanning microscope to study minerals that were trapped inside the...

New California Gold Rush: Searching for Meteorite Bits

Ancient space rock can fetch $1K a gram

(Newser) - The fireball that exploded over California last week did more than just produce a window-shaking sonic boom—it also scattered pieces of meteorite over, fittingly enough, a 30-square-mile portion of the state's Gold Country region. News of the extremely rare type of space rock sent scientists and treasure hunters...

Astronomers: Meteor Caused Calif., Nevada Explosion

It rattled windows from Sacramento to Reno yesterday morning

(Newser) - No need to panic: That loud explosion heard early yesterday morning around large parts of California and Nevada? It was likely just a ... meteor, say astronomers. The mysterious explosion rattled windows and shook houses from Sacramento to Reno, causing residents throughout the region to phone police. Some people also reported...

Key GOP Blogger Endorses 'Sweet Meteor of Death'

Erick Erickson says all the GOP candidates are terrible

(Newser) - RedState.com editor Erick Erickson has finally endorsed a presidential candidate: The Sweet Meteor of Death, a joke candidate put forward by political blog Ace of Spades HQ . "You could presume that being a conservative of course I would choose something like a great fireball coming from the sky...

Meteorite Mistaken for Crashing Plane

Two reports lead to search and rescue mission off England's coast

(Newser) - A meteorite that fell into the sea off the coast of England Friday was mistaken for a crashing plane by several people, including a fisherman and a pilot, reports the Telegraph . Their reports resulted in emergency services being sent to investigate, but when no wreckage could be found and there...

Fossil Shows Meteor Wiped Out Dinosaurs

How a single horn could cement a theory

(Newser) - It’s just one horn, not quite a foot and a half long, but scientists say a newly discovered fossil could clinch the theory that a falling asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. Skeptics of the scenario have always pointed out that we’ve found no dinosaur fossils dated within the...

Huge Meteor Misses East Coast
 Huge Meteor Misses East Coast 
Feb 16, 2011 4:45 AM CST

Huge Meteor Misses East Coast

Space rock caused rare daytime fireball

(Newser) - A meteor big enough to have ruined a lot of people's Valentine's Day streaked over the East Coast earlier this week, creating a rare daytime fireball. Large numbers of people from Connecticut to Philadelphia reported seeing the meteor, which by some accounts was as bright as the sun. Most meteorites...

Massive Meteor Crater Found by Google Earth

10-ton meteor hit only a few thousand years ago

(Newser) - An Italian mineralogist found a massive meteor crater in the Egyptian desert using only Google Earth, the Telegraph reports. The meteor is thought to have hit as recently as a few thousand years ago, and geologists say its impact site is one of the best preserved ever found. The previously...

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