PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet 50/2003 - 7 June 2003
---------------------------
"If it had hit Central London, Britain would no longer have
a capital
city. The force of the meteorite that hit eastern Siberia last
September
destroyed 40 square miles of forest and caused earth tremors felt
60
miles away."
--Robin Shepherd, The Times, 7 June 2003
(1) METEORITE CRASH SITE FOUND IN SIBERIA
(2) LARGE METEORITE FRAGMENTS FOUND IN SIBERIA
(3) SIBERIA METEORITE FLATTENS 40 SQ MILES
(4) CASH PLEA FOR SPACE IMPACT STUDY
============
(1) METEORITE CRASH SITE FOUND IN SIBERIA
Inferfax, 6 June 2003
http://www.interfax.ru/one_news_en.html?lang=EN&tz=0&tz_format=MSK&id_news=5642068
IRKUTSK. June 6 (Interfax) - The crash site of a gigantic
meteorite,
Vitim, that hit Earth in September has been discovered in the
Irkutsk
region.
An expedition from the Kosmopoisk scientific organization found
an area
of about 100 square kilometers covered with burnt trees and
pieces of
the meteorite 60 kilometers from the village of Mama, Alexander
Bogun,
deputy head of the district administration, told Interfax on
Friday.
The meteorite fell in the early hours of September 25, 2002,
between the
town of Bodaibo and the village of Balakhninsky near the Vitim
River.
The incident caused strong tremors in the region, similar to
those of an
earthquake. Sporadic flashes of light were seen over the crash
site.
The expedition members said that this is the second largest
meteorite,
after the famous Tunguska meteorite, to fall on Russian
territory.
Copyright 2003, Interfax
=============
(2) LARGE METEORITE FRAGMENTS FOUND IN SIBERIA
RIA Novosti, 6 June 2003
MOSCOW, JUNE 6 (RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT EDUARD PUZYREV) - The
site and
fragments of a large meteorite which fell on the earth in
September 2002
had been found in Siberia, said the Russian Academy of Sciences
on
Friday.
"Prospectors from the Kosmopoisk expedition have spotted a
100,000-square-kilometer (sic) part of the taiga with burnt and
fallen
trees. It is found 60 kilometers from the Mama village near the
Vitim
river," said the academy.
The precise coordinates have been fixed only now because deep
snow
hindered work before.
Now scientists can get down to a more detailed study of the
meteorite.
The first fragments of the celestial body have already been
found.
When the meteorite was falling, people in many places near the
Bodaibo
and Mama villages felt earth tremors as in an earthquake. They
also
"heard roar and splashes of light above the taiga forest far
away." The
passage of "a large luminous object" in the terrestrial
atmosphere was
also registered by American satellites.
The Russian Academy of Sciences does not rule out that, after the
1908
fall of the Tunguska meteorite, the new one can be the largest of
meteorites which have fallen on earth over the last 95 years.
Copyright 2003, RIA Novosti
==============
(3) SIBERIA METEORITE FLATTENS 40 SQ MILES
The Times, 7 June 2003
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-705280,00.html
From Robin Shepherd in Moscow
IF IT had hit Central London, Britain would no longer have a
capital
city. The force of the meteorite that hit eastern Siberia last
September
destroyed 40 square miles of forest and caused earth tremors felt
60
miles away.
An expedition from Russia's Kosmopoisk institute has only
recently
reached the site in a remote area north of Lake Baikal because of
bad
weather and difficult terrain, the Interfax news agency said
yesterday.
Fragments of the meteorite had apparently exploded into shrapnel
18
miles above the Earth with the force of at least 200 tonnes of
TNT.
At the time, Russian media reported that villagers 60 miles away
had
witnessed a gigantic fireball screeching down from the sky,
causing
windows to rattle and house lights to swing as they were hit by
blast
waves on September 25. There were no reported casualties.
Copyright 2003, The Times
=============
(4) CASH PLEA FOR SPACE IMPACT STUDY
BBC News Online, 8 October 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2309117.stm
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Scientists investigating what is believed to be a
"significant" fresh
meteoroid impact crater in a remote part of Siberia are begging
for
funds to mount an expedition.
A British meteorite expert has called on the international
community to
help Russian researchers get to the impact site, which may be of
major
scientific importance.
Hunters in the region say they have seen a large crater
surrounded by
burned forest.
Vladimir Polyakov, of the Institute of Solar and Terrestrial
Physics in
Moscow, said: Specialists have no doubt that it is a meteorite
that fell
into the taiga on Thursday."
Middle-power Earthquake
Polyakov says there were more than 100 eyewitnesses to the event.
He added that scientists believed them. He said instruments
rarely
recorded the impacts of meteoroids and so eyewitnesses were
practically
the only source of information for such events.
Kirill Levi, vice-director of the Earth Crust Institute in
Siberia,
said: "The seismic monitoring station located near the event
site
recorded the moment of impact recording seismic waves comparable
to a
middle-power earthquake."
Vladimir Polyakov added that it was impossible to send a
state-funded
expedition to the site, which lies in Bodaibo district, Irkutsk
region,
without approval from the Meteorite Studies Center in Moscow.
Bodaibo residents say they witnessed the fall of a very large,
luminous
body, which looked like a huge boulder.
No funds
Scientists in Irkutsk have sent a report to Moscow along with a
request
for funds to mount an expedition but have had no reply.
Benny Peiser, of Liverpool John Moores University, UK, said:
"We appear
to be dealing with a significant impact event."
He told BBC News Online: "It is imperative that US and UK
funding bodies
support our Russian colleagues in their investigation of the
Siberian
impact.
"The resources required for sending a scientific expedition
to the
epicentre of the event would be very moderate but could yield
vital
information about the impact threat that concerns every citizen
of the
world."
Copyright 2003, BBC
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