NICARAGUA NEWS – The Near-Earth Object Program (NEO) at NASA ruled out the “possible meteorite” fallen in Managua, near the international airport, is related to the 2014 RC asteroid.
“For those who ask, the event in Nicaragua (possible meteorite) is not related,” said Asteroid Watch in a tweet. The Tweet was retweeted by NASA.
“Different times, different directions,” according to the NASA.
The NASA NEO website says “a loud explosion was heard near Managua’s international airport Saturday night, and photos of a 12-meter (40-foot) crater have been circulated. As yet, no eyewitness accounts or imagery have come to light of the fireball flash or debris trail that is typically associated with a meteor of the size required to produce such a crater. Since the explosion in Nicaragua occurred a full 13 hours before the close passage of asteroid 2014 RC, these two events are unrelated.
“As predicted, the small asteroid 2014 RC flew safely past the Earth at 18:01 UT (2:01 pm EDT, 11:01 am PDT) on September 7 at a distance of 33,550 km (20,800 miles) above the Earth’s surface. Astronomers around the world took the opportunity to observe this fairly rare event, and learned that the asteroid is about 12 meters (40 feet) in size and is spinning very rapidly.”
The government news website, El19Digital, on Monday no longer has any reference to the meteorite.
According to La Prensa, the Asociación Nicaragüense de Astrónomos Aficionados (Anasa) – Nicaraguan Association of Amateur Astronomers (Anasa) – recommends excavating the crater. “You have to cordon off the area, take pictures, take videos, organize a search of fragments, start digging with shovels, any stone should be removed, weighed and identified,” Julio Vannin1, president of the Anasa, told EFE.
Sources: NASA; La Prensa; El Nuevo Diario; El 19 Digital; EFE
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