METEOR FALL IN RUSSIA AND ALMOST THE ASTEROID COLLISION, CAUSES ALERT AT THE UNITED NATIONS

The fall of the meteorite in russia and near collision of asteroid 2012 DA14 on Friday (February 15th) came at a time when the UN is discussing measures to prevent the possible impacts of objects to our planet.

Heated discussions about the explosion of the meteor on Russia and encounter with Earth Asteroid 2012 DA14 were high on the agenda of the February 15 Action Team-14 during the session 50 of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Use Pacific Outer Space (COPUOS), to be held from February 11 to 22 at the UN headquarters in Vienna.

This video screenshot shows the fireball from a meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2013, creating a shockwave that shattered windows and injured more than 1,000 people.Credit: Russia Today

A meteor seen flying over Russia on Feb. 15 at 3:20: 26 UTC impacted Chelyabinsk. Preliminary information is that this object was unrelated to asteroid 2012 DA14, which made a safe pass by Earth on the same day. Credit: Google Earth, NASA/JPL-Caltech

Credit: Milton Garces (via Twitter as @isoundhunter)Milton Garces, Founder and Director, Infrasound Lab, HIGP, University of Hawaii, tweeted this photo of the spectrogram for the Russian meteor that exploded on Feb. 15, 2013. He wrote: "1h Infrasound spectrogram for #RussianMeteor, ~1500 km from hypercenter. Tip of the iceberg ... plenty energy below 1 Hz pic.twitter.com/3eYPf2jM"

Thermal Impact of Russia Meteor
Credit: EUMETSATIR3.9 image of the thermal impact of the Russia meteor taken by Meteosat-9 satellite, Feb. 15, 2013, 3:15 UTC.

Up for discussion at the Vienna gathering is the report: "Near-Earth Objects, 2011-2012, Recommendations of the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects for an International Response to the Near-Earth Object Impact Threat."

Meteor Over Russia Seen by Meteosat-9-Credit: EUMETSAT
The meteor which exploded over the Urals of central Russia was seen by Meteosat-9, at the edge of the satellite view. Hundreds of people were reportedly injured as the meteor's massive sonic boom caused widespread damage. Image taken Feb. 15, 2013, 3:15 UTC.

Future threatening asteroids

"This event in Russia and the pass of the larger asteroid 2012 DA14 are good reminders that many thousands of objects like it pass near Earth daily," said Ray Williamson, a senior advisor to the Secure World Foundation and a participant in the Vienna gathering.  

Williamson said that some objects will be larger and cause considerable damage if they strike Earth. Furthermore, it is critical that efforts continue to identify and track asteroids in order to counter the largest ones before they do serious damage to population centers.

Asteroid 2012 DA14

"Work is continuing within the United Nations on developing international responses to future threatening asteroids. Given the uncertainties concerning where such asteroids might strike Earth and how much damage they might do, international responses will be critical,"