bergie
Bronze Member
- Aug 2, 2004
- 1,815
- 1,147
This 1972 object was so large that had it struck the ground (or disintegrated as an airburst at a steeper angle) it would have had the power of the Hiroshima bomb. By pure luck it was at a shallow angle, so it entered the atmosphere, was visible for over a minute (which also tells you how fast it was going) and then went back into space! It actually entered the atmosphere somewhere over New Mexico, caused sonic booms in Idaho and Montana, and left the atmosphere over Alberta, Canada -- all in less than 2 minutes. A tiny tiny difference in angle or timing and it could have been a disaster of enormous proportion.
http://www.maniacworld.com/tetons-meteor-a-near-miss.html
http://www.maniacworld.com/tetons-meteor-a-near-miss.html
