The Astronomy Thread

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Loser Araysar

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in terms of difficulty to shoot down?

Yes. F-117 > 10 ton meteorite.
 

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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in terms of difficulty to shoot down?

Yes. F-117 > 10 ton meteorite.
I don't know that I agree with your assessment sir. However, you have an excellent avatar, so one must assume you know what you're talking about.
 

Tuco

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I don't know that I agree with your assessment sir. However, you have an excellent avatar, so one must assume you know what you're talking about.
I was going to correct Araysar's Merlin-like statements, but this was a much better response.
 

Loser Araysar

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I don't know that I agree with your assessment sir. However, you have an excellent avatar, so one must assume you know what you're talking about.
I'm no expert

but

on one hand we have

a rock the size of the house
giant contrail
giant radar signature
no attempts to evade radar
arcing through the sky (no evasive maneuvers, can predict trajectory)

on other hand we have

a plane the size of a house
no contrail
virtually non existent radar signature
specifically designed to evade detection
can change flight direction at any time


sooo.... you decide.
 

chaos

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Some of the old school military guys tried to tell me that shooting down meteors isn't that big of a deal and has happened before. Pretty sure they are full of shit and trying to sound cool right about now.
 

Zombie Thorne_sl

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A SAM site could have shot it down.
As far as i know even the US doesnt have SAM tracking that can reliably shoot down an ICBM, which is essentially the speed this thing was comming in at. Current SAM's and anti missile systems track and kill objects flying MACH 2-6, an ICBM's re-entry speed is something like 7-10 kilometers per second which is MACH 30ish. Even the super awesome AEGIS missle destroyers cant do that.

Edit, just did some wiki hunting... It looks like the US has a facility in Alaska that has succesfully shot down ICBM speed objects in testing, and the Russians have some sort of ABM system that protects moscow, but it launches a nuke into the incomming ICBM (sounds like a russian idea!)
 

Loser Araysar

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im telling you bros, if it wasnt SAMs, it was top secret russian technology.
 

hodj

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The only problem with this is that the meteor was going approximately 33,000 miles per hour from all reports.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...e64_story.html

The Russian Academy of Sciences said the meteor - estimated to be about 10 tons - entered the Earth's atmosphere going at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph). It shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above the ground, releasing several kilotons of energy above the Ural Mountains.
 

Loser Araysar

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cover up. of course they dont want anyone to know that they have this kind of technology.
 

Tuco

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Cause if there's one thing the Russians are known for, it's not exaggerating technological advantage.
 

Cybsled

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What is it with meteors and Russia? Seems like there is a cosmic bullseye on them.
 

Nuttin_sl

shitlord
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Makes you think about what little it takes though, this meteorite was just a couple of meters across and apparently to small to track, had shattered above a more populated area, like a major city, who knows what would have happened?

Anyone know how big they have to be, to track?
 

fucker_sl

shitlord
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Makes you think about what little it takes though, this meteorite was just a couple of meters across and apparently to small to track, had shattered above a more populated area, like a major city, who knows what would have happened?

Anyone know how big they have to be, to track?
if i remember right, they need to be at least few dozen meters to be seen without much efford. smaller than that are almost impossible to be seen unless they pass very close to earth
 

Aychamo BanBan

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Aye, we need Lumie. It was probably aliens that shot down the meteor with Russia. And wait till the memes start coming in. In Russia, meteors ...
 

Numbers_sl

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The Tunguska Event was a 60m diameter object that exploded in a 15 megaton blast which flattened 60,000 trees in a 800 square mile radius. The blast was heard in London, England. It has been calculated by experts and insurance folks that such an event occurs once every 300 years.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

Smaller objects hit the earth more frequently. A 1 meter diameter object hits the earth once a year.