Topic: Chelyabinsk Oblast

Global News Blog How a cold, irradiated Siberian city hopes to cash in on meteor tourists

Before last month's meteor strike, Chelyabinsk was best known for a 1957 nuclear waste disaster.  Now officials there are trying to turn the meteor into a tourist attraction.

Where did that Russian meteor come from? Astronomers determine origins.

Relying on the many publicly available videos of the meteor that exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains earlier this month, a pair of Colombian astronomers say that they have calculated the space rock's orbit.

US scientists seek to prevent another meteor explosion

NASA and the Air Force are working together to develop plans to prepare for future meteor strikes like the one in Russia earlier this month.

Scientists reconstruct Russia meteor trajectory (+video)

Relying on videos of the meteor as it streaked across the sky over the Ural mountains, a pair of Colombian astronomers say they have reconstructed the space rock's orbit.

Little telescope to hunt big game: hard-to-see near-Earth asteroids

Canada's NEOSSat space telescope was launched Monday atop an Indian rocket. It will monitor two groups of asteroids whose proximity to the sun makes them hard to see from Earth.

Unsuspecting target chosen for asteroid-smashing mission

A joint European/US mission to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid now has a target: the asteroid Didymos, which poses no threat to Earth and has no idea what's coming.

Small Canadian satellite to hunt big space rocks

A suitcase-sized Canadian spacecraft launched Monday aboard an Indian rocket is designed to spot large asteroids that cross paths with our planet.

Painting asteroids could nudge them away from Earth

To protect Earth from space rock threat, a scientist recommended spray painting an asteroid to alter the amount of sunlight reflected by it, thereby changing its trajectory.

How dangerous are near-Earth asteroids? 5 key questions answered.

On Feb. 15, asteroid 2012 DA14, discovered a year ago, cleared Earth by a scant 17,200 miles. The same day, a smaller, unrelated asteroid that no one saw coming exploded 12 to 15 miles above Russia’s Chelyabinsk region. Events that day highlight the risk that near-Earth objects (NEOs) can pose – although to some extent, humans can counter them.

Was Chelyabinsk meteor actually a meteor? Many Russians don't think so. (+video)

A recent newspaper poll found nearly half of its readers believe that the event could be anything from a divine message to UFOs to a US weapons test.

Russian asteroid highlights astronomers' challenge: predicting such space objects

Astronomers have cataloged about 95 percent of the space objects wider than half a mile – those that could destroy civilization. But they have found less than 1 percent of the objects 100 feet across or larger, a class that includes the asteroid that flitted past Earth on Friday.

In wake of Russian meteor, a scramble for new windows

The meteor that exploded in Russia's frozen Chelyabinsk region Friday blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings. Replacement is a top priority for a small army of recovery workers.

Russian meteor blast had force of 300-kiloton nuclear warhead (+video)

Using sensors designed to detect rogue nuclear tests, scientists have learned more about the meteor that exploded over Russia. It was much bigger than they first thought. 

Asteroid flyby breaks records, raises warnings

Astronomers estimate that an asteroid the size of 2012 DA14, which came within a cosmic hair's breadth of our planet on Friday, strikes the Earth once every 1,200 years or so.

Just how big was that Russia meteor anyway?

The meteor whose shock wave injured hundreds of Russians early on Friday was tiny compared to the one that struck Siberia in 1908, say scientists. 

Huge asteroid won't strike Earth on Friday. But what about the next time?

There's no chance that the 150-foot-wide asteroid 2012 DA14 will strike our planet, but it's only a matter of time before a large space rock does, say scientists. 

As asteroid zips past Earth, exploding meteor hints at what could have been (+video)

The meteor that exploded over Russia was much smaller than the asteroid that will buzz Earth Friday. But it shows how destructive Earth impacts can be – and how unexpected.

Meteorite - not the end of the world - strikes Russia's Siberia (+video)

A bus-sized meteor exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains, sparking speculation about everything from a missile attack to the end of the world. The shock waves smashed windows and damaged buildings.

In desecration of crosses, Russia's Orthodox church sees dark warning

The Russian Orthodox Church said an antireligious campaign – in sympathy with Pussy Riot punk band – was under way after four large wooden crosses were destroyed over the weekend.

In frozen Siberia, Russia tries to seed a start-up culture

The Kremlin is backing havens, including one in the Siberian city of Tomsk, where entrepreneurs can sidestep a culture of corruption and cronyism that hampers innovation.

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