Russian Machine Never Breaks » Chelyabinsk

Explosions in Chelyabinsk; Meteor Suspected (UPDATED)

Peter Hassett — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 04:24:30 +0000

LATE UPDATE: No immediate confirmed reports of casualties. See the AP for more information.

We’re getting all kinds of information about explosions in Chelyabinsk, the city in the Ural region of Russia that hosts Evgeny Kuznetsov’s KHL team. Information is sparse right now, and we do not want to speculate.

Windows have been blown out. The sky is streaked with contrails. Evacuations are underway.

Michael Garnett, goalie for Chelyabinsk, is okay:

Meteorite shook Chelyabinsk this morning. Shook my whole building and woke me up!#челябинск youtube.com/watch?v=4ZxXYs…

— Michael Garnett (@MichaelGarnett) February 15, 2013

We’ll update this post when we have actual facts. For now we just hope everyone is safe.

From Phil Plait of Slate

Phil Plait of Slate published this article on his Bad Astronomy blog on Monday:

On Friday, Feb. 15, the Earth is going to get a very close shave by an asteroid*. Called 2012 DA14, this 50 meter (160 foot) rock will pass just over 27,000 kilometers (17,000 miles) from the Earth’s surface. This is closer than our geosynchronous satellites, so this really is a close pass!

But, to be very clear: This asteroid poses no threat to us right now, nor in the foreseeable future. Friday’s miss is just that: a miss. And, in fact, this is a good thing, since any time an asteroid gets close (but misses), we learn a lot, including how to find them, how to track them, and even how to talk about them to the public.

Plait responds to the news:

I don’t *think* this meteor is related to #2012DA14; a solid 12+ hours ahead; DA14 is still pretty far out. Coincidence?

— Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) February 15, 2013

Plait continues to dismiss a connection to DA14. See his feed for more.

More Tweets, Images, and Links

Here’s the host of Echo on Moscow radio, Alexander Plushev. He is relaying early information from major Russian news agencies.

Над Челябинской областью прошел метеоритный дождь, пожара не последовало – МЧС уральского региона

— Plushev (@plushev) February 15, 2013

RMNB translation: Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ural Region: meteorite rain over Chelyabinsk Region, no fire

Voice of Russia has an item about the Chelyabinsk Event

An emergency official tells Reuters:

It was definitely not a plane. We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far.

Кусок астероида попал в цинковый завод #chelly twitter.com/a_koretsky/sta…

— Александр Корецкий(@a_koretsky) February 15, 2013

челябинск. Кусок астероида попал в Цех Цинкового заводав #chelly twitter.com/APodpyatnikov/…@apodpyatnikov”

— Денис (@Dokhrimovich) February 15, 2013

UPDATE: This is a photo of a zinc plant in Chelyabinsk. There is no possibility of a zinc leak right now.

2 корпус ЮУрГУ после случившегося #chelly twitter.com/KozzyKoder/sta…

— Vladimir Pestov (@KozzyKoder) February 15, 2013

Небо над Шершнями после взрыва #chelly twitter.com/Pisya/status/3…

— Пися (@Pisya) February 15, 2013

Additional reporting by Ian Oland and Fedor Fedin.

Photos and Video of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s Wedding in Chelyabinsk

Fedor Fedin — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 01:23:19 +0000

Photo via: sashastolemyheart

Evgeny Kuznetsov is now officially a married man. The 19 year-old Caps prospect got hitched today to Anastasia Zinov’yeva, his girlfriend for less than a year, in a small, quaint ceremony at Trakor’s 7,500 seat arena. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was even in attendance, flying from Moscow to Chelyabinsk to make a wedding banquet held later in the day at Beryozka. Below the fold, RMNB’s Fedor Fedin translates the account of KP.ru reporter Alexey Mikushin, while we also share cute photos and video from the day that was.

Zhenya behind the wheel of a new ivory Porsche Cayenne. Nastia wearing the wedding dress. He in the designer shirt, wide satin blue ribbon belt, with the cufflinks and bow tie of the same color. He has the looks of someone ready to go to Hollywood and be the star of some romantic movie. Anastasia’s dress has a train. She wears bracelets and a cross on a chain some experts priced at about $10,000.

“Evgeny, the bride should go on the left side, and you should be on the right.” — the registrar gives the newlyweds a hint.

“Well, I’m doing it for the first time, so I don’t know all these things — and, I’m sure, this is the last time,” Kuznetsov says as he takes Nastia under her arms and stares into her eyes. “I only came to the Traktor arena for the practices and games. This time for a wedding. I’m not used to it.”

And, by the way, Evgeny and Nastia are pioneers — they’re the only ones so far who have registered their marriage in the Traktor arena. Registry offices can’t handle all the newlyweds. In fact, there are 30 to 40 ceremonies going on so the government decided to widen the county lines. Now there is one alternative place to get wed in each district — Young Watcher’s Theatre, Dramatic Theatre, Opera and Ballet Theatre.

Before signing the registration, Evgeny said that he didn’t want any hullabaloo surrounding his marriage ceremony. Yet there may have been more journalists than relatives in attendance.

The signature is entered into the registration book, the rings are exchanged, and the marriage certificate is handed out. Zhenya wipes his lips after kisses time after time and laughs:

“I’m going to eat all of your lipstick.”

The couple decides not to go on a sightseeing tour they had planned. Instead, they go out to the hotel complex on Smolino Lake right away, together with 120 guests.

Additional photos and video:

Photo credit: Paul Perminov