Large Meteor Explodes over Russia
February 15, 2013
The unexpected explosion of a meteor over Russia today injured more than 1,000 people and shattered windows, dishes, and television screens over a large area near the city of Chelyabinsk in western Siberia. Most of the injured, hundreds of whom had to be hospitalized, were hurt by flying glass. Preliminary reports said the blast also damaged nearly 300 buildings, including 12 schools and 6 hospitals. The meteor apparently was not related to an asteroid known as 2012 DA14 that is being tracked as it makes a close approach to Earth today.
Scientists from the Russian Academy of Science said the meteor entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000 miles (53,000 kilometers) per hour. The object, which may have weighed 10 tons (9 metric tons), created a powerful sonic boom as it slammed into the atmosphere and exploded at an altitude of about 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers). Numerous videos taken by residents captured the fireball as it blazed across the sky and the ground-shaking shockwave that followed. Some scientists suggested that the impactor was not a single meteor but a meteor shower.
Russian officials mobilized at least 10,000 police officers and others to search for pieces of the meteor in the area around Chelyabinsk. The city, which is about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) east of Moscow, has many defense plants, including some for the manufacture of thermonuclear weapons.
A meteor appears in the sky when an object called a meteoroid enters the atmosphere from space. (World Book illustration by Greg Maxson)
The appearance of the meteor near Chelyabinsk recalled one of the most famous meteor events in modern times–the 1908 Tunguska explosion over central Siberia. The object in that event, which scientists believe also exploded in the atmosphere, left an area roughly 30 miles in diameter of flattened and scorched trees.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to pass by Earth at about 2:25 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It will make its closest approach to Earth over the eastern Indian Ocean, off the island of Sumatra. NASA officials have assured the public that this asteroid will not impact Earth. But a NASA spokesperson also said that if another asteroid about the size of 2012 DA14 were to crash into Earth, the result would be “regional devastation.” 2012 DA14 is being monitored by scientists from the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Program, established by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The agency is trying to detect within 10 years most of the Earth-approaching asteroids larger than 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) in diameter. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 of these bodies are thought to exist, though scientists have discovered only 861 so far.
Additional World Book articles:
- Dawn
- Eros
- Vesta
- When Worlds and Comets Collide (a special report)
- What Has Caused Mass Extinctions (a special report)
