"The expedition from Russia’s Kosmopoisk institute discovered a meteorite impact site that could be the largest for 95 years. The meteorite fell in the early hours of September 25, 2002, and caused strong Earth tremors in the region, many residents believed it to be an earthquake. Sporadic flashes of light were also witnessed over the impact area."
http://www.nearearthobjects.co.uk/news_display.cfm?code=news_intro&itemID=181
"The U.S. Department of Defense have released information obtained by U.S. satellites on the fireball event that occurred over Siberia near Bodiabo on Sept 24. Eye-witness accounts describe a large luminous object falling to Earth near Bodiabo in Siberia. Hunters in the region have also reported the existence of a crater surrounded by burnt forest suggesting that an impact event had occurred. The event was detected by nearby geophones as a moderate-earthquake.
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.
Although the amount of energy of a meteoroid that is converted into heat and light as it falls through the atmosphere is not simply related to the size of the meteoroid it can be used to estimate the size of the event. The fireball seen over Alaska on January 18, 2000, for example, was likewise observed by U.S. satellites and released an energy of around 0.26 kilotonnes."
http://www.nearearthobjects.co.uk/news_display.cfm?code=news_intro&itemID=127
And link from that page:
http://phobos.astro.uwo.ca/~pbrown/usaf/dod221.txt
"Fireball Detection
U S 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).
**************************************************************************
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SATELLITE BOLIDE RELEASE AND ALL PREVIOUS
SUCH RELEASES CAN BE FOUND ON THE WWW AT
http://phobos.astro.uwo.ca/~pbrown/usaf.html
"
So I guess the Alaska bolide was slightly more energic than the Russia one, but it's possible more stuff hit the ground.
-gb
Space/Science » in reply to Color me skeptical
re: Color me skeptical
