Asteroid explosion over Indonesia [Telegraph, U.K. - New Scientist ]
"An asteroid that exploded in the Earth’s atmosphere with the energy of three Hiroshima bombs this month has reignited fears about our planet’s defences against space impacts.
On 8 October, the rock crashed into the atmosphere above South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The blast was heard by monitoring stations 10,000 miles away, according to a report by scientists at the University of Western Ontario.
Scientists are concerned that it was not spotted by any telescopes, and that had it been larger it could have caused a disaster.
The asteroid, estimated to have been around 10 metres (30ft) across, hit the atmosphere at an estimated 45,000mph. The sudden deceleration caused it to heat up rapidly and explode with the force of 50,000 tons of TNT.
Luckily, due to the height of the explosion – estimated at between 15 and 20 km (nine to 12 miles) above sea level – no damage was caused on the ground." .....
The immediate aftermath of the event was even video taped and presented on Indonesian TV - which naturally found it way to YouTube on Oct. 8. If your Bahasa Indonesia is not up to par, here is a brief summary of the TV report:
"It's not clear what what was the source of a loud sound above Bone Sea. However, LAPAN (Indonesian Space and Astro Dept.) suspected that the loud sound was from a meteor explosion. . Local civilians though it was a commercial plane which had exploded. They heard a very loud explosion and felt the shock wave, many felt that it was earthquake."
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