The map shows the approximate trajectory of the meteorite fall

Chelyabinsk meteorite- a stone meteoroid that fell on February 15, 2013 in the area of ​​Lake Chebarkul in the Chelyabinsk region. The meteorite fell at 9:20 local time 80 km west of Chelyabinsk. As a result of the meteorite fall, 1,491 people were injured.

According to experts, the mass of the meteorite was up to 10,000 tons, and its diameter was about 15-17 m. The flight of the meteorite body from the moment it entered the atmosphere lasted 32.5 seconds. During its flight in the atmosphere, the meteorite broke into many parts, and therefore fell to the ground in the form of a meteor shower. At an altitude of 15-25 meters, the meteorite broke up into several parts as a result of a series of explosions. The speed of the fireball's fall ranged from 20 to 70 km/s. When falling, the space object left a bright trail that was visible even in Kazakhstan and the Samara region.

When the meteorite broke into several parts, shock waves were formed. According to experts, the total amount of energy released during the destruction of a cosmic body was up to 500 kilotons of TNT equivalent.

Chronicle of the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite

At 9:15 local time, the movement of the cosmic body was seen by residents of the Kostanay and Aktobe regions of Kazakhstan. At 9:21 a.m. a meteorite trail was spotted in the Orenburg region. The meteorite's fall was witnessed by residents of the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Kurgan, Samara and Chelyabinsk regions, as well as the Republic of Bashkortostan.

At 9:20 local time, a meteorite fell into Lake Chebarkul, located 1 km from the city of Chebarkul. The fall of parts of the meteorite was observed by fishermen who were fishing near the lake. According to eyewitnesses, about 7 fragments of a cosmic body flew over the lake, one of which fell into the lake, raising a column of water 3-4 meters high. On the satellite map you can see Lake Chebarkul, where the meteorite hit.

As a result of the fall of the meteorite, a blast wave was formed, which in terms of energy released exceeded the energy of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Due to the flat trajectory of the body's entry into the atmosphere, only part of the released energy reached populated areas.

Consequences of the fall of the Chelyabinsk meteorite

Since most of the energy had dissipated, the blast wave mainly shattered glass in buildings in nearby communities. The meteorite injured 1,491 people, but most injuries were due to cuts and bruises from broken glass. However, the Chelyabinsk meteorite has no equal in the world in terms of the number of victims.

The greatest damage from the disaster was suffered by 6 settlements in the Chelyabinsk region: the cities of Yemanzhelinsk, Chelyabinsk, Korkino, Kopeisk, Yuzhnouralsk and the village of Etkul. The shock wave damaged many buildings: the damage from it is estimated from 400 million to 1 billion rubles.

Chelyabinsk zinc plant, the roof of which collapsed from the blast wave of a meteorite

Research and study of the Chelyabinsk meteorite

On February 15, 2013, it was established that fragments of a meteorite fell in the Chebarkul and Zlatoust districts of the Chelyabinsk region. Scientists from UrFU collected fragments of the meteorite for further study.

Researchers later told the press that the meteorite was an ordinary chondrite, which consists of sulfites, iron, olivine and fusion crust.

Many thought it was a rocket flying by. And scientist Sergei Zamozdra immediately realized that it was a meteorite.

February 15, 2013. I'm standing by the window. The feeling from the flash is as if the car blinked its high beams. I immediately realized that it was a meteorite. Moreover, literally the day before I told students about such phenomena... I immediately ran to the window at the other end of the educational building to trace the trail of the falling fireball. I call the boss to tell him about the “alien”, and at that moment a shock wave arrives. Intuitively I grab the window frame so that it doesn’t fly out. The window was literally shaking under my palm,” said Associate Professor of the Department of Theoretical Physics of Chelny State University, Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences on the radio “Komsomolskaya Pravda” Sergei Zamozdra.

- Many agreed that we were very lucky?

How to look. This is both luck and bad luck at the same time. Bad luck is obvious. People got hurt. There are injuries, shock. Material damage. Perhaps there were long-term consequences - someone developed, for example, chronic diseases.

We are lucky that we have a chance to study this cosmic body in detail. Previously, it was believed that space objects larger than 100 meters in size posed a threat. Ours was “only” 18, and such devastating consequences. Additional funds immediately appeared and research work intensified.

- By the way, where, from what Galaxy, did the fireball come to us?

There is no point in waiting for a meteorite from a distant Galaxy. We have enough of these “cobblestones” in our home, in our solar system - about half a million of them are already known. Telescopes are getting better, and we are able to find even more of these meteorites. It's a bit cramped for them in space. They collide periodically. And one of these fragments flew to us in the Southern Urals.

- Scientists and rocket scientists, it turns out, missed the meteorite?

Its speed was very high (18 km/sec - approx. ed.), and our protective equipment, I think, is not designed to record such a speed. Moreover, the meteorite was flying over the horizon, from the direction of the rising sun. It was very faintly noticeable. That's why they missed it.

WHY DOES A METEORITE LOSE WEIGHT?

- Four years have already passed. Are we still studying our meteorite or is everything already clear?

I didn't think the research would last this long. If we take the Tunguska phenomenon, then some fragments cannot be found. Most likely, it was a comet that exploded above the Earth and evaporated into dust. There is, in fact, nothing to study there.

We still have a bunch of stones left. They are sawed and cut. They study magnetic properties, the effects of shock waves, and chemical properties.

The glow itself is called a fireball. And meteorite fragments fall to Earth. The main body fell into Lake Chebarkul. An 8-meter crater was formed. Body size is about 80 centimeters.

Is it true that the meteorite, which is now on display in the Chelyabinsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, is gradually losing weight and drying out?

This also came as a surprise to me. I believed that the meteorite was a monolith. It turned out that it also has pores. They absorbed moisture from Lake Chebarkul, where the meteor fell. The moisture gradually evaporates. I wouldn’t be surprised that the “newcomer” lost 10-20 kg in weight.

HOW TO DISTINGUISH A METEORITE FROM A SIMPLE STONE

- Has anything similar ever arrived on Earth over the past four years?

There was nothing comparable. There are cases of falling in Europe, in Khakassia, in Buryatia. The only thing I can say is that just last year in the Argayash district of the Chelyabinsk region, villagers found a rather large fragment of a meteorite, weighing over five kilos. Its age is more than 100 years.

- How to distinguish space fragments from earthly pebbles? What do you advise?

These fragments have a special crust on top. Like a burnt pie from the oven. Take it in your hand. The density is very high. Such pieces are three to five times heavier, for example, than coal.

Look at the chips. Small light grains should be visible there. No more than a millimeter in diameter.

- What does our Chelyabinsk meteorite consist of? From gas, from ice?

Most likely made of rocky material. This is called chondrules - the oldest substance from which planets were born. A kind of frozen droplets. They stuck together, sintered, shrunk. The age of such pieces is billions of years.

- How much are pieces of meteorites worth today? What's the price?

Our Chelyabinsk meteorite is valued at approximately 500 rubles per gram. The price of large, heavy pieces can reach up to a million rubles or more.

- Not material value...

When you hold such a piece in your hands, you feel a connection with the cosmos, with some kind of eternity, infinity. It costs a lot. If I had enough money, I would probably start collecting such stones.

- Surely, you, as a researcher, have a piece of the Chelyabinsk meteorite?

Yes, I found fragments during a scientific expedition. This excitement is worse than hunting. Moreover, it was February. Snowdrifts. I found holes-funnels, and at the bottom - pieces of a meteorite. The weight of the heaviest one is approximately 130 grams. With a chicken egg.

DOESN'T IT FALL AT THE SAME POINT TWICE?

According to initial reports from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, nothing was found at the site of the meteorite fall on Lake Chebarkul. Why wasn't he discovered right away?

In a couple of seconds, the meteorite “broke through” a ten-meter layer of silt and reached the granite rocks at the bottom of the lake. It went in like a knife through butter. That's why they didn't find anything. Conditions too difficult for examination.

- They say that if the meteorite had entered the atmosphere at a different angle, the destruction could have been more significant?

Then he would have fallen, perhaps somewhere in Kazakhstan.

But if it was not stone, like ours, but iron-nickel, like a piece of stainless steel, then it would have fallen almost entirely. Didn't burn. And the crater would have been much more significant.

- What is the final power of the explosion? What is it comparable to?

Finally announced as 500 kilotons (kt). This is about three dozen Hiroshimas.

- A shell does not fall on the same point twice... Is there a possibility of history repeating itself in Chelyabinsk?

Yes, there is such a belief. But meteorites continue to fall. Albeit in other sizes. So anything is possible.

AND AT THIS TIME

Who wanted to take the Chelyabinsk meteorite

Take the test that Komsomolskaya Pravda did for the anniversary of the fall of the cosmic body. ()

HELP "KP"

Four years ago, on February 15 at approximately 9:20 local time, a meteorite fell near Chelyabinsk.

According to official data, 1,613 people were injured. Most of them were cut by glass broken by the blast wave.

According to various sources, from 40 to 112 people were hospitalized, two victims were placed in intensive care units. Not a single person died.

The shock wave also damaged buildings. The total amount of damage was about 1 billion rubles.

On October 16 of the same year, a fragment of the Chelyabinsk meteorite was taken from a depth of 13 meters - from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul. Now the exhibit is on display in the Chelyabinsk Regional Museum of Local Lore.

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More than 1,000 people were injured from the meteor shower near Chelyabinsk. In cities affected by a powerful explosion, telephone communications do not work, and windows in residential buildings were broken. The number of wounded is being determined Ruslan RAKHMANGULOV

According to NASA experts, the power of the meteorite explosion over the Chelyabinsk region was about 300-500 kilotons, which is 20 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Associated Press reported this today.
According to the latest data, a meteorite weighing 10 thousand tons and 17 meters long entered the lower layers of the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 64 thousand kilometers per hour and exploded at an altitude of 19-24 kilometers above the Earth's surface. The trail left by the celestial body in the atmosphere stretched for 480 kilometers.

A fragment broken off from an asteroid belt

According to NASA representative for the study of meteorite bodies, Bill Cook, the meteorite that fell on Friday is a fragment that broke off from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and turned into a meteor when entering the lower layers of the Earth's atmosphere. It is almost impossible to detect such a celestial body in advance. So, in order to detect a meteor, it was necessary to direct earthly telescopes in the right direction in advance.

According to Bill Cook, the fallen Chelyabinsk meteor is the largest celestial body to fall to Earth since the Tunguska meteorite of 1908. Also, the NASA expert noted that the “meteor shower” that passed over the Urals has nothing to do with the approach of the 2012 DA14 asteroid to our planet, because their speed and trajectory differ from each other, analysts report in the “US News” section of the investor magazine “Stock Leader” "

The NASA expert said in his message that the American agency takes the threat of collisions of other celestial bodies with the Earth very seriously. He noted that every year the government allocates about $20 million to the department’s program, although just a few years ago such funding did not exceed $4 million.

The published data of NASA specialists about the meteorite that fell over the Urals differs somewhat from the previously reported data by specialists of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Thus, according to the assessment of Russian experts, the meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of 54 thousand kilometers per hour, and exploded at an altitude of 30 to 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, stated analysts in the “US news” section of the investor magazine “Stock Leader”.

Opinion of Russian scientists

Thus, according to Russian experts, the flight of the meteorite over the Chelyabinsk region was accompanied by 3 different explosions, each with a power of 1 to 10 kilotons.

“According to my observations, the fallen meteorite flew from southeast to northwest. During the fall, three different explosions occurred, preceded by a bright flash, with an estimated temperature of over 2500 degrees. The first explosion was the strongest. Thus, windows were broken in houses in the Chelyabinsk region,” says Sergei Zakharov, candidate of geographical sciences.

According to the expert’s calculations, the height of the first explosion was about 60 to 70 kilometers. The estimated power of the explosion was from one to ten kilotons. Let us note that the power of the explosion during a nuclear test in North Korea was from 6 to 7 kilotons, and the power of the nuclear bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki was 21 kilotons, say experts in the “Russian news” section of the investor magazine “Stock Leader”.

“However, if we carry out calculations from the other side of the city, it turns out that the explosion occurred at an altitude of 30 kilometers, and the power of the explosion did not exceed 1 kiloton. The angle above the horizon is 40-45 degrees. The epicenter of the explosion was approximately located closer to the south of Chelyabinsk,” noted Sergei Zakharov.

“It was a kind of fireball, a fairly large celestial body that exploded three times as it entered the lower layers of the atmosphere, showering fragments on everything below. According to some media reports, a meteor shower occurred over Chelyabinsk. However, this is not the case, because meteor showers are just falling crushed rocks that practically do not reach the Earth's surface. And these were fragments of a fallen meteorite, because of which, unfortunately, many people suffered,” says Zakharov.

A rather ordinary cosmic body fell in the Chelyabinsk region. Events of this magnitude occur once every 100 years, and according to some data more often, up to five times a century. Scientists believe that bodies about ten meters in size enter the Earth's atmosphere about once a year, but this happens most often over the oceans or over sparsely populated regions. Such bodies explode and burn at high altitudes without causing any harm.

The size of the Chelyabinsk asteroid before the fall was about 19.8 meters, and its mass was from 7 thousand to 13 thousand tons. According to scientists, a total of 4 to 6 tons fell to the ground, that is, about 0.05% of the original mass. Of this amount, no more than 1 ton has been collected at the moment, taking into account the largest fragment weighing 654 kilograms, raised from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul.

Geochemical analysis showed that the Chelyabinsk space object belongs to the type of ordinary chondrites of class LL5. Chondrites are one of the most common types of stony meteorites; about 87% of all meteorites found belong to this type. They are distinguished by the presence in the thickness of rounded millimeter-sized grains of chondrules, which consist of partially melted substance.

Let us remind you that a meteorite explosion occurred on February 15, 2013 years at an altitude of 23.3 kilometers, and its power was 30 times greater than the force of the nuclear explosion in Hiroshima.

A meteorite fell in the Southern Urals at dawn on February 15, 2013 at approximately 9:25 local time. The meteorite exploded over Chelyabinsk at an altitude of 60-70 km. The flight of the car was observed in the Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Orenburg and Tyumen regions of Russia, as well as in the northern regions of Kazakhstan.

A few days earlier, on February 11, a large fireball was also recorded flying over the territory of Bashkiria in the Urals. According to the British Royal Astronomical Society classification, it is an asteroid. Website: meteorite2013.ru Location: Russia

NASA estimated the power of the Chelyabinsk meteorite

The 17-meter-long meteorite, whose mass was about 10 thousand tons, entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 64 thousand kilometers per hour. The meteorite exploded at an altitude of 19 to 24 kilometers.

A about the Chelyabinsk meteorite are somewhat different from those given earlier by the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to Russian experts, the meteorite entered the atmosphere at a speed of 54 thousand kilometers per hour and exploded at an altitude of 30-50 kilometers.

Stone from the sky.

Let's remember what scientists found out. An anomalous phenomenon in the sky over the Chelyabinsk region turned out to be a fireball weighing about 1 kilogram. As reported at the Kourovka Observatory, the appearance of a single object of this size in the Earth’s atmosphere was impossible to predict.

The first version of what was happening was a plane crash - the military flight unit near Chelyabinsk had already become quite annoying to the natives with its noisy flights over the city, and at first the locals decided that it was another SU-24 or its weapons that had screwed up. Then they began to think about the missile - which, of course, was facilitated by people close to the missile business, air defense troops and other armchair experts. boldly asserting that it was a rocket flying from a local test site.

The patriots also claimed that the missile was shot down by vigilant military personnel, who knew everything in advance, but did not tell anyone. however, a meteorite flying at a speed of under 20 km/s cannot be shot down - even the S-400 can shoot down targets at a speed of no more than 4.8 km/s. And even if it could, the mass of a rocket versus the mass of a meteorite is like firing a “murka” at a locomotive.

Sources: ria.ru, ru.tsn.ua, vk.com, korrespondent.net, lurkmore.to

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On February 15, 2013, a meteor fell into Lake Chebarkul, as a result of which a large 7-meter hole in the ice arose. Around this hole, small fragments of a meteor resembling solid rock were found.

The caliber of the debris ranged from 0.4 to 2 cm. Professionals searching for meteors were not allowed into the hole by the military and emergency workers. Samples for analysis were delivered specifically to a secret laboratory.

There were several meteors. The main one and a number of minor ones. The explosion capacity of the main meteor that exploded after entering the atmosphere, according to some NASA experts, ranged from 250 to 600 kilotons.

Caliber of the Chelyabinsk meteor

The caliber of the Chelyabinsk meteor was about 17 meters, and its mass was approximately 10 thousand tons. Calculations show that the meteor entered the earth's atmosphere and exploded at an altitude of 18 to 25 km. According to Russian experts, the meteor exploded much higher - at an altitude of 30-50 km.

“An event of this magnitude occurs once every 100 years,” said Paul Chodas, a program scientist for the study of near-Earth space objects at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He added that the line of movement of this meteor was significantly different from the flight path of asteroid 2012 DA14, therefore these 2 actions are in no way connected.

Chelyabinsk meteor became the largest recorded meteor since 1908, when the Tunguska meteorite fell in Siberia.