Topic: Tiny asteroid explodes over Urals with 500 kiloton force

[Cobra951]

NASA scientists said the object that exploded over Russia was a “tiny asteroid” that measured roughly 45 feet across, weighed 7,000 tons and traveled about 40,000 mph.

Source

1000 people injured, mostly by vast amounts of shattering windows.  And this has nothing to do with the much larger asteroid that buzzed the globe this afternoon, supposedly.  Two the same day, from different directions, at vastly different speeds.  What are the odds?

Edit:  These are the odds.

[idolminds]

Space is crazy, yo.

[Cobra951]

Now they've upped the size estimate, to 55 feet across and 10,000 tons.  This thing, which actually did deliver a glancing blow, is a significant fraction of the size of the other asteroid everyone knew about for, what, a year?  Yet no one saw it coming until it hit.  That's the scary part.  We think we can formulate intercept plans, or at least put our affairs in order before death rains from the skies, but we can't even see a quarter-million pound, half-megaton bomb until after it's done the deed.  And this thing didn't even hit the ground.  What would that have looked like?  Hiroshima was 16 kilotons.

[Quemaqua]

Intercept plans are make-believe. They always want to nuke it in the movies, but fun with physics: gravity would just draw it back together! Not much you can do but cross your fingers and be thankful we're a small target.

[Cobra951]

We don't need to blow shit up, just deflect it a little.  The sooner we do it, the less we need to change its trajectory.  With the big rocks, yeah, forget it.  But those are very rare.  It's these small ones that are all over.

[Cools!]

It's hard to discover these things, especially when they are that small. Even the asteroid that passed us the other day which is around 50 meters (160 feet) in diameter was only discovered after it passed us last year.

[Quemaqua]

Right. When you can detect it, you probably can't do much. When you can't, by the time you know it's already too late. Not to mention a lot can go wrong even with something as simple as trying to bump something else.