Meteor Hits Siberia, Asteroid Barely Misses

Meteor Hits Siberia, Asteroid Barely Misses

Russian MeteorOnly hours after a meteor (a fragment of an asteroid) exploded over Siberia with the force of 20 atomic bombs, an asteroid barely missed when passing by the Earth.

  • A mere 17,000 miles away (in cosmic terms this is the equivalent of the width of an armpit hair) a 150 foot asteroid shot passed us closer than some satellites and the moon.
  • The Siberian meteor by comparison was only the size of a 49′ school bus and weighed about 7,000 TONS. Tons as in 2,000 lbs. That’s 14,000,000 lbs for those of you flunked Tons in school.
  • The explosion  was 12-15 miles ABOVE the surface,
  • was traveling 40,000 mph,
  • released 300-500 KILOtons of energy,
  • hit one of the most isolated places on Earth and still injured 1,000 people.

Now I know this was just in Russia and that hardly counts as a loss to most people, but what’s it going to take before the world governments sit up and pay attention and just call Bruce Willis?