[meteorite-list] The recent russian fall...

From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:02 2004
Message-ID: <AF564D2B9D91D411B9FE00508BF1C86901B4E44E_at_US-Torrance.mail.saic.com>

Hi Pekka and List,

Pekka forwarded the report:

"U.S. satellites initially detected the fireball at
57.91N and 112.90 E at an altitude of 62 km and it
was tracked to 58.21 N and 113.46 E at an altitude
of 30 km. The satellite measurements indicate that
the total energy radiated from the fireball was
roughly the equivalent of 0.2 kilotonnes of TNT."

However, this is at odds with the original report:

"US satellites detected the impact of a bolide near Bodiabo in Siberia at
16:48:56 UTC on 24 September 2002. The object was simultaneously detected
by both visible wavelength and IR sensors.

"The object was first detected at 57.91 North Latitude, 112.90 East
Longitude
at an altitude of approximately 62 km. It was tracked to 58.21 N, 113.46 E
at an altitude of approximately 30 km.

"The observed visible wavelength peak intensity was 2.4 X 10^11 Watts/ster.
The total radiated energy was 8.6 X 10^11 Joules (6000K black body)."

Assuming I've done my conversions correctly, 8.6 x 10^11 joules is roughly
205 kilotons of TNT -- 1000 times greater than the ".2 kilotonnes" above.
That's a pretty good-sized blast -- nearly 10 times that of the 21-kiloton
Nagasaki nuclear bomb. --Rob
Received on Fri 18 Oct 2002 02:57:45 PM PDT