Huge meteor over Russia

[FourthBase]

Meteor over the Atlantic, apparently.

The news opened with a flash report of it, unknown size and destination, made me flinch, still flinching, ready to accept the worst if necessary, it's been fun, oh well, etc. Hopefully, it's just a pebble. Reminds me of the time about 15 years ago when I got very, very baked at a co-worker's apartment in the afternoon. We turned the TV on, and CNN was in the middle of a story about worst-case-scenario asteroids. By "in the middle", I mean, they were at the part in the story where the scientific expert was speaking in the hypothetical present tense, and the screen showed a big picture of a monster asteroid with a frighteningly-numeric name. Meaning, for about a good solid minute, I was utterly convinced it was the surprise end of the world, and I was going to be experiencing it in a cutesy Beacon Hill apartment with a goofy acquaintance from work, and while at first my gut sank and my blood ran cold and my psychic aperture impossibly both squeezed tight and blew wide open simultaneously, within seconds I relaxed into a state of only moderate physical anxiety, I realized that, yeah, okay, this is it, so be it, I accept this, because, well, what choice is there, "es muss sein", "amor fati", "c'est la vie", and...then the story withdrew from the hypothetical and back into the actual present tense, and then there was a Cheetos commercial or something. Needless to say, I defy anyone to imagine a bigger buzzkill than that. Even on the morning of 9/11, after I had gone on one of my constitutional pre-work one-hitter walks throughout the back alleys of the Back Bay, when I was leaning back next to the building entrance and puffing on a Marlboro and reading the SCUM Manifesto, and then my girlfriend and my roommate who worked in the same building exited and delivered the news in a rather hysterical (anti-funny sense) way...my gut sank a little, blood froze a little, aperture went a little wild...and it was definitely a buzzkill of the highest order...but it was still out-classed as such by the time I thought CNN was reporting the world's end in real time. So, thank you, CNN, you accidentally anchored me emotionally to a worst-case-scenario that cannot possibly be exceeded, ever. CNN, the worldwide leader in the unintended cultivation of limitless stoicism, lol. Point is, I'm forever prepared for whatever, whenever, except I would prefer not to have to see the kind of mountainous tsunami I've had recurring nightmares about all my life, thx god.

[justdrew]

http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/fireb ... &&&&page=1

Reports are flying in of a fireball that streaked across the sky this evening over the Capital Region and several other northeast and mid-Atlantic cities. I saw it with my very own eyes in Latham, New York at around 7:53 p.m. in the southwest sky, heading south or southeast. The fireball was bright and had a fairly long green tail which lasted for a few seconds, like a shooting star or a large streaking meteor.

3 hours later and nothing on youtube but fakes

[FourthBase]

(Peeks through window.) Okay, no wall of water.
Guys, I think we're good. (Knocks on wood.)

[FourthBase]

http://www.amsmeteors.org/members/fireb ... &&&&page=1

Reports are flying in of a fireball that streaked across the sky this evening over the Capital Region and several other northeast and mid-Atlantic cities. I saw it with my very own eyes in Latham, New York at around 7:53 p.m. in the southwest sky, heading south or southeast. The fireball was bright and had a fairly long green tail which lasted for a few seconds, like a shooting star or a large streaking meteor.

3 hours later and nothing on youtube but fakes

Getting some pics in, finally:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Me ... 48921.html

[Canadian_watcher]

funniest coverage of this ever on the MSM last night. not intentionally, of course.
They had about three sound bytes from 'experts' about this.
The first guy was a witness/photographer so he was okay. normal talk.
Then they had a guy on from the National meteor society (or something) who said, "It was green with a tail and had little bits of light falling off of it." end interview.
Finally, there was a guy who looked like he was testifying before congress, who said, "It came from a direction we can't see with our telescope" end clip.

[Ben D]

http://rt.com/news/largest-fragment-met ... ifted-258/

Huge half-ton chunk of Russian meteorite lifted from lakebed

Published time: October 16, 2013 10:45



The largest-discovered fragment of a Russian meteorite, weighing around 570 kilograms, has been lifted from the bed of Lake Chebarkul in the Urals.

The huge meteorite chunk split into three pieces when scientists tried to weigh it. The precise weight could not be established because the heavy object broke the scales.

“The preliminary examination... shows that this is really a fraction of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It’s got thick burn-off, the rust is clearly seen and it’s got a big number of indents. This chunk is most probably one of the top ten biggest meteorite fragments ever found,” said Sergey Zamozdra, associate professor of Chelyabinsk State University, as cited by Interfax news agency.

He explained that it was important to establish the weight of the fragment in order to learn more about the qualities of the whole of the meteorite.

The lifted chunk was taken to the regional natural history museum. The plan is to have a small sample of it X-rayed to determine what minerals it consists of.

Several earlier attempts to raise this massive chunk of meteorite, found by divers at the beginning of September, failed.

The divers’ mission was hampered by a number of factors. The meteorite fragment lay 20 meters under water, buried under a thick layer of mud.

Estimates concerning the layer of sediments covering the chunk were more optimistic than what the divers actually had to deal with. It took them 10 days to pump the mud away from the rock.

The divers had to do their job in conditions of zero visibility, due to the extremely muddied waters of the lake. Storms further contributed to delays in lifting the celestial body.

The largest lifted chunk of meteorite so far weighed 11 kilograms. Scientists on Wednesday confirmed its extraterrestrial nature.

[Iamwhomiam]

Thanks for the update, Ben. Earlier today I heard a recording of the recovery and they were very excited.