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Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Caught Unaware, Asteroid 10x Hiroshima Hit Earth in 2018


Thu 21 Mar 2019 | 12:19 AM
Norhan Mahmoud

By: Norhan Mahmoud 

CAIRO, Mar. 20 (SEE)- Yes, what you just skimmed did happen and Alḥamdulillāh mankind survived a  catastrophic scenario! On the edge of your seat now? Scroll down to know what disrupted planet earth’s safe and sound sky.

Here’s the chase; on the 18th of December 2018, exactly sixteen miles above earth’s surface, a several-meters bursting superbolide exploded. And, BANG, energy 10 times more robust than Hiroshima’s atomic power puffed around. 

Yet, no one experienced the jolt as luckily the galloping fireball was welcomed by waters off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. 

In case you don’t know, a bolide is simply a fireball with a magnitude of -14 or more, twice brighter the full moon. And, a super one is 100x glossier than the full moon with a magnitude of -17 or much luminous.

Adrenaline rushing in your veins? Feel at ease. As the BBC quoted Mr. Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA, saying that this event may occur “two or three times every 100 years.”

Such incident is no strange to our planet’s winds. As in 2013, a mightier fireball shook the grounds of Russia’s Chelyabinsk. 

Although the fireball was hustling at 32km/s and gave out 173 kilotons of energy, yet viral footages sweeping the internet are much calmer than the actual storm. 

NASA’s Planetary Defense regularly keeps track of what roams the space, so if some extraterrestrial bodies are visiting earth soon, notifications will alert you of headlines. 

Since you’re here, press play and watch what everyone missed; 

https://youtu.be/4XWw7PrPG1o