Astroid in Russia
The world’s eyes were on the sky on Feb. 15, 2013, when everyone was getting ready to see a 50-meter asteroid called 2012 DA14 pass near the Earth. Unfortunately, an unexpected meteor stole the show at around 9:20 a.m. when it entered Earth’s atmosphere right above Russia.
The asteroid turned into a fireball that traveled at about 40,000 miles per hour and it exploded around 15 miles above Chelyabinsk, Russia. The meteor shower damaged over 4,300 buildings and injured about 1,200 people; only two of whom were reported in serious condition.
The explosion released a sonic boom and sent a powerful shock wave that broke windows, set of car alarms, interrupted phone lines, and sent a few unlucky people flying.
NASA described the force of the explosion over Chelyabinsk as 30 times the energy released by the Hiroshima bomb.
So far, only three meteor impacts have been found; two were located in Chelyabinsk and one in Zlatoust. One of the fragments hit Chelyabinsk Lake, and left a 6-meter crater and is now at the bottom of the lake. The site was closed down by police as they will try to analyze the area.
The Chelyabinsk meteor was calculated to be 56 feet across, measured 17 meters and weighed anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 tons. It was one of the largest in centuries, as they are said to happen once every 50 to 100 years. In fact, it is one of the biggest to enter Earth since the Tunguska asteroid in 1908.
The 2012 DA14 asteroid that missed the Earth the same day, which was 150 feet across and measured 45 meters, was approximately the size of the meteorite that impacted the Arizona dessert around 500,000 years ago. The Earth was almost hit by two major asteroids that same day.
The Chelyabinsk meteorite was never detected by scientists and the 2012 DA14 asteroid was discovered only 12 months ago. Is that alarming? Maybe you should ask the dinosaurs.
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This was a very exciting event and your take on it is interesting. I especially liked how you ended the article talking about dinosaurs.