Meteor expert Clark Chapman and former astronaut Rusty Schweickart urge U.S. military to re-initiate sharing of satellite detections of meteor impacts:
Russian Meteor Fallout: Military Satellite Data Should Be Shared.
by Leonard David, SPACE.com’s Space Insider Columnist
Date: 18 February 2013 Time: 09:03 AM ET
http://www.space.com/19846-russian-m...atellites.html
From links in the article, the military formerly did share this information but the policy was changed in 2009. This is important because the satellites reportedly have the capability to detect meteors down to 1 meter wide and below. This would well have the capability to determine if close asteroid flybys result in increased meteor impacts.
And the mass - it was 10,000 tonnes.
I took Scorpius' elements and made a little addon that uses a copy of the Phobos mesh and a config file with the correct mass. Have fun!
It's a fiery ride, especially since there is no drag encoded for the meteor, so it hits the ground and then skips back out into space!
That video I linked previously or ones like it may also be able to address this question:
An Asteroid's Parting Shot.
By Phil Plait
Posted Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, at 8:00 AM
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astr...eroid_2012_da14_seen_in_time_lapse_video.html
The video shows asteroid 2012 DA14 slowing moving through the frame,
and meteors and artificial satellites streaking rapidly through the frame.
Assuming we are able to distinguish the satellites, perhaps by
knowing already their positions, then perhaps we can determine if the
number of meteors shown here are higher than normal.
Better would be longer exposures that include at least the time
period of the Russian meteor impact.
Note this was from last year, not this year in regard to this...
They all hail from the asteroid belt—but not from a single location
in the asteroid belt," he says. "There is no common source for these
fireballs, which is puzzling."
This isn't the first time sky watchers have noticed odd fireballs in
February. In fact, the "Fireballs of February" are a bit of a legend
in meteor circles.
Brown explains: "Back in the 1960s and 70s, amateur astronomers
noticed an increase in the number of bright, sound-producing deep-
penetrating fireballs during the month of February. The numbers seemed
significant, especially when you consider that there are few people
outside at night in winter. Follow-up studies in the late 1980s
suggested no big increase in the rate of February fireballs.
Nevertheless, we've always wondered if something was going on."
Indeed, a 1990 study by astronomer Ian Holliday suggests that the
'February Fireballs' are real. He analyzed photographic records of
about a thousand fireballs from the 1970s and 80s and found evidence
for a fireball stream intersecting Earth's orbit in February. He also
found signs of fireball streams in late summer and fall. The results
are controversial, however. Even Halliday recognized some big
statistical uncertainties in his results.
...
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/22feb_februaryfireballs/
[FONT=Courier, Monospaced]The preliminary orbit shows that 2012 DA14 has a very Earth-Like
orbit with a period of 366.24 days, just one more day than our
terrestrial year. The orbit is nearly circular but just elliptical
enough to jump inside and outside of the path of Earth two times per
year. Because objects move faster when they are closer to the Sun, the
relative motion is similar to some sports races: when the Earth is on
the outer track, it is overtaken by 2012 DA14, but when the asteroid
crosses Earth's orbit, Earth overtakes it and passes by. It is during
the orbit crossings when the closest encounters occur, and when there
is potential for a future impact.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/3418.html [/FONT]
Scientists have released microscopic images of fragments of the meteorite that hit central Russia in February.