[extropy-chat] 1908 asteroid

Terry W. Colvin fortean1 at mindspring.com
Wed Nov 3 00:22:22 UTC 2004


Mike Lorrey wrote:
> 
> --- Al Brooks <kerry_prez at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > this link theorizes the 1908 asteroid explosion over
> > Siberia was
> > approximately 500 kilotons, i.e. equivalent to large
> > hydrogen bomb. The article reassuringly states that
> > such an asteroid 'impact', about six kilometers up in
> > the atmosphere, might occur over a populated area
> > every 3600 years.
> > http://www.psi.edu/projects/siberia/siberia.html
> 
> I'm wondering if they've counted a similar but smaller bolide event in
> the 19th century in the midwestern US.
> 
> =====
> Mike Lorrey

Mike,

Details please of this bolide.  Below is another bolide event.

Terry


Forwarding permission was given by William R. Corliss.

Science Frontiers, No. 156, Nov-Dec, 2004, p. 3
< http://www.science-frontiers.com >


GEOLOGY

The Vitim bolide event

On the night of September 24-25, 2002, an energetic bolide streaked across
the Irkutsk region of Russia near the Vitim River.  The event was reminiscent
of the more powerful 1908 Tunguska event.  Consequently, Russian scientists
quickly began gathering testimony and dispatching ground expeditions.

Although we are interested mainly in the havoc wrought at the impact site,
it is also interesting to review some of the curious phenomena accompanying
the bolide's passage.

* Luminous displays lasting several days in the direction of the presumed
  impact site.  These were called "glow rays" by the inhabitants.

* All-sky brightening even in clouded areas.

* Filament lamps glowed during the bolide's passage.

* St. Elmos fire emanated from the tops of fence poles.

* Background radiation increased 60 kilometers from the impact site.

* Afterwards, the temporary worsening of the health of inhabitants of the area.

* The snow and water became bitter (!).

* Tritium concentration in the region's water increased.

Photos taken at the presumed impact site remind one not only of ground zero
of the Tunguska event but also of recently blasted sites in remote Brazil (1930)
and elsewhere.  (See *Science Frontiers II* for collected descriptions.)

(Ol'khovatov, Andrei; "Vitim Bolide Event," *Meteorite*, 10:30, February 2004.


Comments.  It is curious that:

(1) That there are so many apparent recent impact events.

(2) That said events always seem to occur in remote, hard-to-access areas.

(3) That well-defined craters are rarely found.  Instead there is devastated
vegetation with little ground disturbance.

(4) That meteoritic material is also rarely found.


[Science Frontiers is a bimonthly collection of digests of
scientific anomalies in the current literature.  Published by
the Sourcebook Project, P.O. Box 107, Glen Arm, MD 21057.
Annual subscription: $8.00.]


-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
     Alternate: < fortean1 at msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
      U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
------------
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
   TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org > [Southeast Asia
veterans, Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]



More information about the extropy-chat mailing list