Asbo Zaprudder wrote:
From the numerous videos and news reports, it looks to me as though this meteorite entered the atmosphere travelling roughly east (from the direction of the rising sun) to west. 2012 DA14 will pass by the Earth travelling south to north.
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Correct. Since the asteroid is approaching from the south, any smaller object associated with it would've hit the Southern Hemisphere. Russia is "behind" the Earth's curve from its POV. So it's impossible that this meteoroid could've been a moonlet of the asteroid or a fragment traveling along the same trajectory. This is just one hell of a humongous coincidence.
But hopefully it'll drive home the urgency of developing an effective asteroid defense system for the planet.