Google removes Asteroid near miss Doodle

In the morning, Google had put up a doodle for Earth's close shave with Asteroid 2012 DA14, which will fly-by planet Earth tonight, India Time. The doodle showed the second 'G' in the company's logo jumping aside and back in alarm as the asteroid passes by its place.



In case you haven’t yet heard there was a meteor explosion in Russia which injured around 400 500 people and damaged windows earlier today.  In light of that meteor explosion, which is quite spectacular in videos, Google moved swiftly to remove what had turned out to be an untimely doodle.

Removing the Google Doodle depicting the near miss by an asteroid is really a good, sensitive approach.  It really stands out just like the lone candle for the rape victim displayed on Google India homepage over the New Year, instead of the usual celebrative doodle.

Incidentally the meteor explosion was observed over the regions of Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Sverdlovsk, located in the Republic of Bashkiria, Russia.  The Russian Academy of Sciences has estimated that the meteorite weighed about 10 tons and entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kmph.
8-0

ESA have confirmed that there is no link between the Russian meteor incident and asteroid 2012 DA14 flyby tonight.  Even so, it is correct decision by Google to remove the asteroid near miss doodle.

If you want to watch the spectacular meteor explosion over Russia, the best collection of videos is at Gizmodo.

Tags: googledoodle,asteroid,meteorexplosion,russia,2012DA14