2 Satellites Collide 500 Miles Above Siberia!

[Mesosphere]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090212/ap_on_...llite_collision

http://spaceweather.com/

"Experts are calling it an "unprecedented event." Two satellites have collided in Earth orbit. Iridium 33 crashed into Kosmos 2251 on Tuesday, Feb. 10th, approximately 800 km over northern Siberia. Both satellites were completely destroyed. The expanding cloud of debris contains more than 300 fragments, substantially increasing the debris population at altitudes near 800 km. According to NASA, the International Space Station orbiting just 350 km above Earth is in no immediate danger from the debris.

[stella]

None of the reports that I've seen quote the closing velocity

of the impact, which was 10 km/second (6.2 miles/second).

More bang for your bucks (and roubles).

[Cookie]

suprsied it dosen't happen more oftern.

[NL]

Although the ISS isn't in immediate danger (can be moved if debris becomes a problem) it is satellite operators who are on tentative hooks at the moment as 'space' debris is and always have been a major concern, hope no weather satellites are taken out!!!

[SNOW_JOKE]

*BREAKING* Although maybe co-incidental 2 significant fireballs have been seen across seperately over Kentucky in the US and Italy.

The US fireball is significant in that a eyewitness who has said theyve seen Satellite debris re-entry before confirmed it was most likely a Satellite entering the atmosphere. The Italian sighting which is verified by 2 sky-watch cameras has been estimated at mag -16 and a possible Earth impact.

Picture of the Italian mag -16 fireball

Seems a bit co-incidental that 2 re-entering fireballs have been seen on the same night, both highly bright magnitudes and days after the Satellite impact over Siberia.

[Nick L]

With the amount of junk circling our planet I am really not surprised. We cannot keep chucking up satellites, there simply isn't enough room. I saw on BBC news the other day an animation of all the man made objects circling the earth, it is staggering.