RT site is worth a look. More serious than one would think from the SMH article above. Also leaves some questions yet to be answered, including the following:-
"It is believed that the incident may be connected to asteroid 2012 DA14, which measures 45 to 95 meters in diameter and will be passing by Earth tonight at around 19:25 GMT at the record close range of 27,000 kilometers."
Had wondered about that myself, also note that the dimensions are more descriptive than the US site Spaceweather which was listing 57m a few days ago, but 65m tonight.
“On Monday I will bring to Medvedev a straight picture of what has happened in the Urals and prospective proposals of how the country can find out about the dangers approaching Earth and deal with them,” Rogozin wrote.
'Dangers approaching Earth' - is this why there have been reports of Russia, the US and China building extensive underground shelters over recent years? Our pollies in Canberra have plenty of underground shelters, shame about the rest of us.
"According to unconfirmed reports, the meteorite was intercepted by an air defense unit at the Urzhumka settlement near Chelyabinsk. A missile salvo blew the meteorite to pieces at an altitude of 20 kilometers, local newspaper Znak reports quoting a source in the military.
Regnum news agency quoted a military source who claimed that the vapor condensation trail of the meteorite speaks to the fact that the meteorite was intercepted by air defenses."
There must have been some warning time and some good work from the airmen involved in breaking the rock apart. Have to ask how big was it to warrant such actions? Or was it heading straight for a nearby nuclear power station?
Zinc factory above received a direct hit.
"Those in Chelyabinsk who had their windows smashed are scrambling to cover the openings with anything available – the temperature in the city is currently -6°C.
Chelyabinsk regional governor Mikhail Yurevich is urgently returning to the region. Yurevich said that preserving the city’s central heating system is authorities’ primary goal."
Middle of winter, couldn't have hit at a worse time for them.
