Russian meteor on Nova

[RAMA]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/meteor-strike.html

Just thought you guys would be interested. Very quick production!

 

[Psion]

That was pretty good, but I object to the use of misleading video in several places to sell the urgency. Also, the emphasis on Tunguska missed several other comparable airbursts since then. One over Michigan in 1919, another over Pennsylvania in 1938, one in South Africa in 1963. Finland in 2002. Chelyabinsk wasn't a once in 75 to 100 years event. The planet is mostly uninhabited, and I would expect a lot of these events to go unwitnessed and unreported.

I miss the days of Don Wescott's implacable narration. Nova has subtly shifted away from science documentary and into "edutainment" with disappointing research.

 

[publiusr]

I missed that NOVA program

I thought it was Will Lyman who did the narration for NOVA back when. Liev has about the same voice.

 

[gturner]

The BBC did a pretty good documentary on the Chelyabinsk meteor. I actually learned something new. I always thought a meteor transformed into a meteorite when it struck the ground, but more pedantically, it doesn't become a meteorite until it's actually found and identified. Of course, prior to striking the atmosphere it was an asteroid or comet, so perhaps we should step back and straightened out nouns and adjectives into something like freely orbiting asteroid, atmospheric entering asteroid, impacting asteroid, and asteroid on display instead of having our language reflect a time when we hadn't connected the dots.

 

[feek61]

Thanks for the link; enjoyed the show!