So this just happened this morning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/15/hundreds-injured-meteorite-russian-city-chelyabinsk

I think this is the best footage I have ever seen (has ever been recorded?) of a meteor entering the atmosphere. Hooray for cheap, modern technology!

It's amazing that the shockwave was able to break windows below and even collapse the roof of a factory, considering the trajectory probably went 20km or something above the ground! EDIT: 30-50km

I hope the people injured recover quickly, all the best wishes to them.

Edit: As Milcho pointed out, that was actually a meteor. Meteorites are the ones actually hitting the ground

No one warned about it? No one knew the damage would be considerable (ppl injured), in the case someone detected the meteor? "so dont worry, is not a missile" ?

Did they just hide the fact cause they could do nothing about it, so probably better not scaring anyone?

Thats so fucked up man, I though humans where well capable of detecting things like that

From the information I gathered it was virtually impossible to detect:

- Relatively small

- Fast moving

- Coming from the direction of the sun

Yeah from what little I know about this stuff, we only track the big ones that will wipe out a city/state/civilization, and we most surely haven't even found all of them yet.

I know a lot of people were hurt, and this isn't in disrespect to them, but holy smokes was that amazing!

I used to go out in the desert in Arizona to watch any meteor showers I could see, and they're just little tiny streaks in the sky, but this is a lot more fascinating to watch.

I know that there's a number of similar but smaller events that occur somewhat commonly on Earth, but its always cool to see such a big meteor on footage.

Also, wasn't it Meteor if it doesn't hit the ground, and meteorite if it does?

And on a hilarious note, one of the Russian party leaders apparently called this "a test of new American weapons,"

Whoa. I don't know what I would do in such situation. Either stay put and be friggin' scared, or grab a car and try to see the site of the impact :D

Also, wasn't it Meteor if it doesn't hit the ground, and meteorite if it does?

I guess you're right. Apparently, I don't know anything about that stuff... let's just call it a space rock.

Even the huge ones surprise us sometimes, if they come from the wrong angle. Space is a very big and very empty place.

And objects like this can have very long cycles, meaning they only pass within detectable ranges every few thousand years or so.

It's not at all unthinkable that we would only get a few months or weeks warning before a flying mountain slams into us.

It's a very real danger to our life on earth, and one of the reasons space exploration is vital for our survival as a species.

I guess you're right.

Well, i don't know - i'm asking cause even the site you linked calls it a meteorite (and presumably the Guardian, which is somewhat reputable i guess, does its research).

I'm not sure of the exact classifications, like for example, if the meteor breaks up and pieces fall to the ground - are those pieces meteorites or is the meteor now called meteorite?

Space is a very big and very empty place.

This doesn't necessarily apply to floating rocks and such, but space being very empty makes some types of detection easier. What I'm thinking of is that one site that talked about no stealth in space - but it was generally based on radiation differences - so an object that has a significant (a few dozen kelvin?) temperature difference from space (which is near 2 Kelvin or so) should be easily detectable... at least in theory.

Well, no i'm asking cause even the site you linked calls it a meteorite (and presumably the Guardian, which is somewhat reputable i guess, does its research).

I'm not sure of the exact classifications, like for example, if the meteor breaks up and pieces fall to the ground - are those pieces meteorites or is the meteor now called meteorite?

http://www.beedictionary.com/common-errors/meteor_vs_meteorite_vs_meteoroid

I'm not at all surprised over news outlets getting that wrong... They commonly confuse "galaxy" with "solar system"... (thats like confusing planets with grains of sand...)