Vitim event

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The Vitim event or Bodaybo event is believed to be an impact by a bolide or comet nucleus in the Vitim River basin. It occurred near the town of Bodaybo in the Mamsko-Chuisky district of Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia on September 25, 2002 at approximately 10:00 p.m. (local time). The event was also detected by a U.S. anti-missile defense military satellite.

Some attempts were made to define the magnitude of the explosion. US military analysts calculated it was between 0.2–0.5 kilotons, while Russian physicist Andrey Olkhovatov estimates it at 4–5 kilotons.

Information about the event appeared in the mass media and among scientists after only a week. Initially no one was able to understand the magnitude of the explosion. A small expedition, sent by the Institute of Sun–Earth Physics (Irkutsk), tried to find a "meteorite" within about 10 km from Bodaybo town (people told them—"it has fallen after the nearest mountain!"). At first scientists tried to find only a meteorite, without analyzing any other ideas about the nature of the event, and they tried to prevent the information about it from appearing in mass-media.

The consequences of the Vitim event were strange for a normal meteorite fall. There were northern lights, increased radioactivity, and a mysterious Antonov An-2 plane crash deep in the taiga. There was also an increase of unknown diseases in the Mamsko-Chuyski region near the Vitim River.^{[citation needed]}

Some people suggest that this phenomenon is similar to the Tunguska event of 1908.

1 Expeditions
2 Kosmopoisk expedition
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Expeditions

1st - Russian MChS (Emergency Rescue) team tried to find an object near Bodaybo
2nd - October, 2002 expedition of Irkutsk University (leader S. Yazev).

Official expeditions in 2002–2003 never reached the impact site, situated in a remote Siberian taiga.

[edit] Kosmopoisk expedition

As reported by Kosmopoisk, in May 2003 an expedition, performed by Kosmopoisk (leader — V. Chernobrov) reached the presumed impact point (about 50 km from Vitimsky settle point). The situation there looked similar to that of the Tunguska river after the Tunguska event in 1908. Snow and water samples were analyzed and found to contain an abnormal amount of tritium, as well as radioactive isotopes of cobalt and caesium.

Summing up all the information V.A. Chernobrov suggested, that the Vitim event could be caused by a falling of a comet nucleus with a diameter about 50–100 meters.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Meteorites Australia (Meteorites.com.au) The Vitim bolide [1] (latest update 26 March 2006)
Cambridge Conference Network bulletins concerning the Vitim event [2]
BBC online article [3]
Times online article [4]
Cambridge Conference Network archive concerning the event [5]
Kasatkina, E.A. & Shumilov, O.I. (2005). Some atmospheric and magnetospheric effects possibly related to the Vitim bolide impact. Retrieved June 24, 2005. [6]
Chernobrov, Vadim & Soleny, Alexander & Lawrence, Maria (2003). Results from the VITIM-2003 expedition [7]