Randall Carlson on astronomy: what the evidence says · JRE #872
SUBJECT: ASTRONOMY
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Came in, it was about 50 feet in diameter, which is about, and it came in at a fairly low angle.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The guest describes the February 15, 2013 Chelyabinsk object as about 50 feet in diameter entering at a low angle, in the context of an event that injured roughly 1,500 people. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimated the object's effective diameter at about 18 meters (roughly 59 feet), with peak brightness and disruption occurring at an altitude of about 23.3 kilometers (14.5 miles); a Scientific American analysis of later research puts the diameter at about 19 meters and the main fragmentation between roughly 30 and 40 kilometers up. NASA also reports the event injured more than 1,600 people, mostly from broken glass, with no fatalities. The claimed 50-foot diameter is somewhat below the roughly 59-62 foot (18-19 meter) figure in the scientific literature, and the low-angle entry description is consistent with published trajectory analyses, while the injury toll cited is close to but slightly under NASA's figure. Overall the claim is directionally accurate but understates the object's size and is imprecise on entry/explosion altitude.