Falling Sky

It's not often you get two asteroid events in one day, but that's what has happened today. This morning we awoke to stunning pictures of a meteorite streaking across the clear central Russian sky and exploding. The resulting explosion caused significant damage to buildings and caused over a thousand injuries. It's a miracle that the meteorite didn't strike a heavily populated area or the fatalities could easily have been in the many hundreds or even thousands.

What is particularly stunning about this event is the fact that it has been recorded in crystal clear clarity by so many who were either on their way to work in their cars or walking to their offices and factories. This is due to the fact that many cars in Eastern Europe have 'dash cams', an insurance requirement in most cases used to record journeys and the actions of other drivers. The ease at which mobile devices are able to capture video literally makes everyone a potential reporter able to capture news-worthy events as they happen.
What is slightly worrying is the fact that this particular meteorite wasn't spotted. Whether no one was actually watching out for it is the subject of much conjecture but I'm assuming most eyes (and telescopes) are focused on '2012 DA14' which is due to pass Earth at about 7pm GMT at a distance of just 17,000 miles. This may sound a lot but when you consider that some of our communications satellites orbit at approximately the same distance, in cosmic terms, this is really very close indeed and certainly the closest near Earth object in recorded memory.
So it's been quite an interesting day, the sort of day when you half expect something just as weird and fantastic to happen. One thing's for sure, we've certainly had a stark reminder of just how vulnerable we are to the many lumps of rock floating round all around us in space. I wonder if we'll be as lucky the next time?