Meteorite fragments discovered in explosion in Russia.
On February 18, scientists from Russia's Ural Federal University announced the discovery of meteorite fragments from the recent meteorite explosion in Chelyabin province.
One of them is called the Chebarkul meteorite, named after a place in Chelyabin province.
Scientists have confirmed the discovery of meteorite fragments in the area of Lake Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk region. (Photo: AFP)
Associate Professor Viktor Grokhovsky said these meteorite fragments are comparable to the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, the largest iron meteorite ever recorded, weighing nearly 70 tons, which fell to Earth in 1974.
hurtling into Earth's atmosphere at cosmic speed, this meteor exploded into thousands of fragments, creating a shower of iron meteors over an area of 3 square kilometers and a meteor shower with a radius of up to 400 kilometers.
According to scientist Grokhovsky's predictions, there will be no meteor explosions or shooting stars of similar size.
According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, the meteor explosion that occurred on the morning of February 15th had a destructive power of more than 300-500 kilotons, equivalent to 20 atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945.
The meteorite, nearly 15 meters in diameter and weighing approximately 7,000 tons, entered the atmosphere at a speed of 64,000 km/h and exploded at an altitude of 19-24 km above the ground, causing a meteor shower over the Chelyabin, Tyumen, Kyrgan, and Sverdlovsk provinces, as well as many localities along the Ural Mountains.
More than 1,200 people in the aforementioned localities were injured, including 50 who required hospitalization.
Russian scientists say that hundreds of meteor showers occurred around the world and in Russia during the 19th and 20th centuries, but they usually happened at night and did not cause significant damage to people or property.
According to (VNA) - VT
