"GIant fireball" in Colombia - "massive explosion"

[Smersh]

According to media reports in Colombia, the meteorite that fell on 5th Sept left a crater "100 meters in diameter."

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-new ... ombia.html

Just wondering if MeteorWayne or anyone else has any more info on this, as a Google search doesn't turn up much.

(Edit) Hmmm ... unless it's this, (although I'm not sure if it could be viewed in the sky from Mississippi.)

 

[silylene]

Some more assorted information on this meteor. And the newscaster on the RCN video is hot!
http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2010/09/santander-columbia-meteor-rcn-news.html


edit
And a map of the meteor sightings. Apparently the explosion broke many windows in one village. Sounds real to me. many rumors of a 100m crater, but I haven't found a picture yet:
http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2010/09/santander-asteroid-creates-100-diameter.html

 

[silylene]

I found a picture of the crater and a story. Looks like the crater is closer to 30m in diameter, still big. Notice the uplifted crater rim. Looks real.

goodle machine translation of story from Sept 6, 2010
http://www.generaccion.com/usuarios/31374/investigan-presunta-caida-meteorito-noroeste-colombia
Investigate the alleged crash of a meteorite in northwestern Colombia

Colombian authorities on Monday were investigating the possibility that a meteorite would have fallen somewhere in the department of Santander (north west), after villagers denounced on Sunday he saw a fireball, after which they heard a loud explosion.
Monday, September 6, 2010

The governor of Santander, Horacio Serpa, said he heard the explosion. "Something happened. We have no clear. There are many guesses. I myself heard the blow, a very loud explosion," said told the newspaper El Tiempo in Bogota.

Testimonies of people from at least five cities of Santander, realize that towards 15h10 local time (20H10 GMT) was observed in the sky a "fireball" that downward trend heading toward the area called Canyon Chicamocha where was heard more strongly the explosion.

For its part, the police commander of Santander, Colonel Marco Aurelio Pedroza, reported that several committees were sent to the region where the object fell is presumed to try to establish what it is.

Pedroza warned the inhabitants of the region to refrain from manipulating foreign elements that are on their properties.

In Bogotá, the Interior Ministry denied that a plane crash, terrorist attack or a military situation could have caused the explosion at Santander.

 

[Smersh]

Thanks very much for all that info and the picture Silylene. I agree, the crater certainly doesn't look 100m wide. 100ft maybe.

I now don't think it can be connected with the explosion in the sky viewed from Mississippi in the other thread I linked either, because that was reported to be at about 7.40 pm CST whereas the Colombia meteor was said to be 15.10 local time (2010 GMT) and Colombia is ahead of Mississippi by a few hours time-wise, I think.

 

[silylene]

Thanks very much for all that info and the picture Silylene. I agree, the crater certainly doesn't look 100m wide. 100ft maybe. ....

Teh uber Google skilz !

 

[Smersh]

Thanks very much for all that info and the picture Silylene. I agree, the crater certainly doesn't look 100m wide. 100ft maybe. ....

Teh uber Google skilz !

Entschuldigen Sie bitte, ich spreche nicht gut Deutsch - sprechen sie Englisch! :lol:

 

[MeteorWayne]

Thanks very much for all that info and the picture Silylene. I agree, the crater certainly doesn't look 100m wide. 100ft maybe.

This is often a confusion in units...30m=100ft

I now don't think it can be connected with the explosion in the sky viewed from Mississippi in the other thread I linked either, because that was reported to be at about 7.40 pm CST whereas the Colombia meteor was said to be 15.10 local time (2010 GMT) and Colombia is ahead of Mississippi by a few hours time-wise, I think.

No not at all, and beside, I'm not convinced there was an explosion at all in the MS event. Looking at Venus through a scope before the sun has set is not going to be a stable view, especially with a 10mm eyepiece in a 6" F/5 reflector that hasn't had time to reach thermal equilibrium... It's like trying to look at it through a running stream of water from a hose.

BTW, the only post on the meteorobs mallist so far leads to the "lunarmeteorite" blog linked to above, on the morning of the 6th.

 

[silylene]

Wayne, it is interesting that a significant number of small meteors (or at least their remnants) apparently do survive the plunge into earth's atmosphere and retain enough momentum and integrity to carve out a small crater. The accepted paradigm had been that they all explode high up in the outer atmosphere and the pieces fall to earth, robbed of momentum and mass, unable to carve out any significant crater.

This is the third case of a small meteor impact on earth in the last few years to have resulted in a small crater (known to me).

 

[MeteorWayne]

Yes, if it does indeed turn out that's what this was (and it seems likely based on what I've seen so far), that is something not really seen so much before. Maybe it's the population spreading all over that more things are seen now.

BTW, there was another discovery (based on a google searches using landsat images) of a crater in southern Egypt called Gebel Kamil. It's ~ 55m/180 ft in diameter, created by an iron meteorite, with 1.7 tons of fragments recovered. It hasn't been dated, nor the irons analyzed, but the images were taken in the 70's. Who knows, it could be 50,000 years old like Meteor Crater.

 

[alpha_centauri]

I found a picture of the crater and a story. Looks like the crater is closer to 30m in diameter, still big. Notice the uplifted crater rim. Looks real.

Given that I'm certain I've seen that image well before now, I'm gonna say that is not a picture of this event.



EDIT: Look, magic!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33479916/

Unless someone has taken a REAL picture of this supposed "massive" crater then I suspect it is a hoax as well.

 

[adrenalynn]

Good eye / memory.

Appears to be a Latvian crater that was likely faked, first publication I can find is October '09, but I haven't dug through them yet...

http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Ciencia/0, ... 03,00.html

[edit: Sorry - we were researching at the same time... I missed your edit when I posted]

 

[silylene]

I found a picture of the crater and a story. Looks like the crater is closer to 30m in diameter, still big. Notice the uplifted crater rim. Looks real.

Given that I'm certain I've seen that image well before now, I'm gonna say that is not a picture of this event.



EDIT: Look, magic!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33479916/

Unless someone has taken a REAL picture of this supposed "massive" crater then I suspect it is a hoax as well.

Good memory ! I hadn't seen that fake before.

 

[Smersh]

Hmmm ... seems to me it's the media up to their old tricks again. They didn't have a photo of the Colombian crater, so they just dug out any old crater picture they had in their archives and published it, so they could be first with a picture of the "crater" and hoped nobody would notice. They do this kind of thing (the media) quite a bit I've noticed.

It doesn't mean to say the Colombian meteor strike didn't happen of course, (although, knowing the media, I suppose it's possible it didn't) it's just that we don't yet have a picture of the real crater.

 

[alpha_centauri]

I suspect it is all a hoax, most likely related to this current news story,

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Two_a ... A_999.html

Two asteroids to pass close to Earth, but won't hit: NASA

Two asteroids were set to pass close to Earth on Wednesday but posed no risk, the US space agency NASA said.

Afraid to say this is a very common occurrence ("Mars to look as big as the Moon" anyone?) with a few sad individuals taking real events and twisting them to spread nonsense/panic.

For a start such a rare event would be in the mainstream media by now, and so would a real picture, if there were any credibility to the story.

 

[yevaud]

Thanks very much for all that info and the picture Silylene. I agree, the crater certainly doesn't look 100m wide. 100ft maybe. ....

Teh uber Google skilz !

Entschuldigen Sie bitte, ich spreche nicht gut Deutsch - sprechen sie Englisch! :lol:

Nu, ... do mia amiko, vi parolas Esperanton?

 

[silylene]

Colombia fails to find meteorite crash site
Tuesday, 07 September 2010 11:33 Kirsten Begg
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-new ... -site.html

Despite a 1,000-strong search team and a police helicopter looking for the remains of a giant fireball seen in the skies of central Colombia, authorities have been unable to locate the supposed meteorite's crash site.

The Colombian media has been buzzing with eyewitness accounts of the fireball, which fell from the sky, causing a massive explosion at 3:15PM Sunday.

However after an intense search Monday authorities were find any remnant of the meteorite.

A committee assembled by Santander Governor Horacio Serpa to analyze the phenomenon said they believe it was a type of meteorite known as an aerolite, which can be comprised of either iron or rock and ice. They believe it is likely to be the latter type, which often breaks up into small fragments in the air, making it impossible to locate on the ground.

Gregorio Portilla, an astronomer Colombia's National University, said that around 30 meteorites fall to earth each year.

"These bodies can travel at a speed of between 11 and 70 kilometers per second, as in, a speed five times the speed of sound" and usually break up in the air or upon impact with the earth's surface, Portilla said.

Meanwhile, authorities are investigating a second explosion that was heard in Colombia's western Valle del Cauca department and may have been another meteorite

Valle del Cauca police commander Colonel Nelson Aceros said he heard the explosion and "it felt like the earth was shaking." The explosion was heard in the municipalities of El Cairo, Versalles Toro, and El Dovio.

Versalles Mayor Jorge Hernan Gomez said locals had been frightened after seeing "a dazzling light followed by an extremely strong explosion that shook the earth."

"It was thought to have been a plane that crashed, but that hypothesis was ruled out," he added.

 

[Smersh]

... Nu, ... do mia amiko, vi parolas Esperanton?

Esperanto? Dydw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg! :shock:

Colombia fails to find meteorite crash site ...

They need to find this flippin' crater ASAP. I'm beginning to look quite silly now for starting this thread in the first place.

Is it possible for a large meteor, such as the alleged Colombian one, to explode in the atmosphere over land without leaving any crater at all, does anyone know?

 

[adrenalynn]

They can certainly airburst if they're ice.

 

[silylene]

Colombia fails to find meteorite crash site ...

They need to find this flippin' crater ASAP. I'm beginning to look quite silly now for starting this thread in the first place.

Is it possible for a large meteor, such as the alleged Colombian one, to explode in the atmosphere over land without leaving any crater at all, does anyone know?

We may sound even stupider:

Colombia 'meteorite' was Russian space junk: Scientist
Thursday, 09 September 2010 09:38 Kirsten Begg
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11758-meteorite-russian-satellite.html

A Colombian physicist proposed the theory that the "giant fireball" glimpsed in the skies above the Santander department on Sunday may have been a fragment of a Russian satellite.

Arturo Plata, the director of the Santander Industrial University (UIS) Halley Group of Astronomy and Aerospace Science, said that a section of the Russian Progress M-06 satellite broke away from the module while it was attempting to connect to the International Space Station on August 31.

His hypothesis is that some of the fragments may have entered the earth's atmosphere, which would explain the numerous eyewitness accounts in the Santander department of a fireball, which fell out of the sky and caused a massive explosion at 3:15PM local time Sunday.

Plata said that "the noise heard in Santander would have occurred because the passage of an object through the air produces a sound wave, which is heard after the object is seen because [the object] travels faster than the speed of sound."

Police commander General Yesid Vasquez announced that the search for the remnants of the fireball had been called off. Colombian air force helicopters had been commissioned to fly over the area to try to locate the object.

Fragments that may be the remains of the "giant fireball" are being studied by the Sergio Arboleda University's Astronomic Observatory. Raul Joya from the observatory said he believes it is more probable that the object was a meteorite than a fragment of space junk. He said it will take up to a month to determine the composition of the pieces of matter that have been collected.

 

[Smersh]

We may sound even stupider:

Colombia 'meteorite' was Russian space junk: Scientist ...

Well I was beginning to wonder if this perhaps this thread ought to go in the Unexplained section. Now it looks like Missions and Launches might be better ...

 

[MeteorWayne]

That's just a hypothesis.

We'll see whether the material allegedly recovered is asteroidal, space junk, or completely unrelated, as it so often is.

 

[MeteorWayne]

... Nu, ... do mia amiko, vi parolas Esperanton?

Esperanto? Dydw i ddim yn siarad Cymraeg! :shock:

Colombia fails to find meteorite crash site ...

They need to find this flippin' crater ASAP. I'm beginning to look quite silly now for starting this thread in the first place.

Is it possible for a large meteor, such as the alleged Colombian one, to explode in the atmosphere over land without leaving any crater at all, does anyone know?

99.9999 % do explode in the air, including almost all stony, stony-iron, and most iron objects.

 

[Smersh]

... 99.9999 % do explode in the air, including almost all stony, stony-iron, and most iron objects.

I had a feeling that was the case Wayne actually, because I remember that discussion we had about the Tunguska event. But is it always the case that a large meteor makes a crater though, when it explodes over land or is it possible that no crater at all might be left?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Craters are pretty rare on earth. After all, if Tunguska left none, despite knocking down thousands of km^2 of trees....

Most asteroids are destroyed far too high to create one.

There are ~ 180 confirmed impact craters on earth. Of course, the planet erases the scars over geological time, so the record probably only samples the last billion years or so, and smaller ones get erased far faster.

 

[Smersh]

Craters are pretty rare on earth. After all, if Tunguska left none, despite knocking down thousands of km^2 of trees ...

But I thought Lake Cheko is thought by some scientists to be the Tunguska crater isn't it?

That said though, it sounds from what you're saying that in all probability, the Colombian meteor (if that's what it was and if the event really happened,) left no crater at all, so it's very unlikely one will be found?