Tag Archives: Google pulls Asteroid Doodle after injuries in Russian meteor explosion

Asteroid 2012 DA14 makes its closest approach to Earth today

February 15, 2013 will go down in history as the day of a very active sky show. A large earth-buzzing asteroid, a meteorite air burst in Russia and the Bay Area fireball all made for an exciting astronomical day. The Discovery owned Science Channel will air a “A Russian Meteor Explosion Special” on Saturday at 8pm. Does Allstate cover Russian Meteor Mayhem?

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If you have cut-rate insurance, you could be on the hook for thousands of rubles.

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Asteroid 2012 DA14 will be speeding past the planet Earth today, just inside the orbit of our band of geosynchronous satellites. But don’t worry. The flying space rock will pass 1000 miles from the closest satellite. No need to worry about losing your television or internet signals. You can follow the asteroid 2012 DA14 through live coverage from observatories around the world at NASA JPL’s Ustream channel and on Twitter or use #asteroid or #2012da14. Google had a cool animated Google Doodle commemorating the close flyby of Asteroid DA14 but pulled it after injuries were reported in the Russian meteor airburst explosion. Google_Doodle_AsteroidDA14

Check out this NASA animation:

And I’m sure you’ve all heard about the Russian meteor explosion that took place on the same day as the asteroid flyby. Here’s a few of the videos that local residents shot of the Russian meteor event in the town of Chelyabinsk:

And a video from a cab, must have looked like an ICBM coming in or something:

And RT has a video of the meteorite crater smashed into the frozen Lake Chebarkul:

Famed astrophysicist and one time Big Bang Theory guest Neil deGrasse Tyson went on the Today show to explain why the Russian Ural Mountains meteorite wasn’t picked up on radar.

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And of course the Bay Area and Silicon Valley got a show today with a bright meteor #fireball captured on a dash camera and seen all over the area. The debris from the burning meteor was even picked up on NBC Bay Area’s weather radar when tweaked to show all objects.

The video below was shot on I-280 heading south at 7:44PM tonight.