Spanish astronomers looking for the origins of the meteor that came scarily-close to the Russian city of Chelyabinsk last February believe they've spotted a cluster of as many as 20 objects that are possible candidates. The Chelyabinsk superbolide, which damaged buildings, caused injuries on the ground and gave rise to a …

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Monday 12th August 2013 07:38 GMT James 51

Where's VHI when you need them.

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Monday 12th August 2013 07:45 GMT Jamie Jones

In summary...

"We may have found its origin, or we may have not"

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Monday 12th August 2013 09:59 GMT Graham Marsden

*$#£+!

Translation: Damn, we've been rumbled! Quick, lads, chuck a few more rocks at them before they figure out how to deal with our attack!

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1. Monday 12th August 2013 17:11 GMT Greg J Preece
  
  Re: *$#£+!
  
  Wonder if they found any incinerated bugs on that asteroid...
  
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  1. Tuesday 13th August 2013 12:03 GMT Wzrd1
    
    Re: *$#£+!
    
    "Wonder if they found any incinerated bugs on that asteroid..."
    
    Don't know about that, but I recall a Russian politician who blamed the US for the bolide.
    
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Monday 12th August 2013 12:54 GMT Pascal Monett

Wait a minute

How can they possibly know that the original object got whacked between 20 and 40 thousand years ago ?

I'm curious. These objects are in space, and we haven't gotten near them. The one object that we did get near to got scorched by reentry. Is there enough data left to determine that interval in a single, earth-atmosphere-burned chunk of space rock ?

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1. Monday 12th August 2013 14:37 GMT amanfromearth
  
  Re: Wait a minute
  
  Presumably by projecting their orbits backwards in an anti-extrapolary way to fix the moment when they were all in the same place.
  
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  1. Monday 12th August 2013 23:31 GMT Don Jefe
    
    Re: Wait a minute
    
    Anti-extrapolary, I like that term.
    
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    1. Monday 12th August 2013 23:47 GMT Benchops
      
      Re: Wait a minute
      
      Me too, although extrapolation can be at both ends.
      
      How about ante-extrapolary?
      
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2. Monday 12th August 2013 17:13 GMT Greg J Preece
  
  Re: Wait a minute
  
  Maths. Lots and lots of maths. We've plotted the orbits of many trans-Neptunian objects (including the not-planet Pluto) despite not having known about them long enough to have observed anything like their full orbits. We just plug what we do know into our gravitational models of the star system and let the computer do the rest.
  
  Over-simplifying, naturally.
  
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