Was there a meteorite? Meteorite: it's good if a stone falls from above, and not a nuclear reactor.

It seems completely defenseless - a tiny blue ball, wrapped in a thin atmosphere, which, it seems, can be blown away by the lightest breeze. It becomes a little creepy when you realize that if a very small asteroid the size of Moscow falls to Earth, hard times will come for life. However, at different points in its history, the Earth has already been subjected to the fall of large meteorites and, as you can see, is still intact. Let's remember the most famous of them.

Tunguska meteorite

This meteor flew through the earth's atmosphere over Siberia in 1908 and exploded just a few kilometers from the Siberian surface.

The explosion had the force of an atomic bomb and knocked down trees within 800 square kilometers. It took years for scientists to start exploring the abandoned and uninhabited area; a hundred years later, they are still looking for conclusive evidence of a meteorite impact in the form of a crater or body debris.

They say a meteorite hit Nikola Tesla, but that's just another conspiracy theory.

Someone believes that the crater is hiding in a nearby lake. Others believe that at the last moment, an alien ship destroyed the meteorite so that it would not destroy the Earth. Well, we have a lot to learn from aliens.

As you know, dinosaurs died, most likely due to an asteroid impact. Together with them, more than half of all species on the planet died. Scientists aren't 100% sure that it was this asteroid that triggered the so-called KT extinction, but they have some reason to believe that the villain came from outer space.

Most of the soil during the event (K-T layer) contains a lot of iridium, which is abundant on asteroids, but scarce on Earth.

Scientists believe that one or more iridium comets or meteorites fell to Earth about 65 million years ago, kicking dust into the atmosphere and causing massive climate change. Where did this guest go? No one knows, but some researchers believe that a crater on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico is the place.

Weighing 60 tons, the Hoba meteorite, which still lies in its place in Namibia, is the largest known meteorite on the planet. A flat slab of iron fell to the ground about 80,000 years ago, so we don't know for sure what pyrotechnic show accompanied its arrival, but it wasn't discovered until 1920 when a farmer was digging through his field and stumbled upon the metal top. Since then, Hoba has become a national treasure, attracting thousands of visitors every year.

Weighing approximately 15 tons and three meters high, this massive bony piece of iron is believed to be the remnant of the iron core of a planet that crashed billions of years ago.

Thousands of years ago, Willamette fell on our planet and was discovered only in 1902 by peaceful Americans in the form of a healing source of the Clackamas Indians - Tomanovos.

Tomanovos now rests in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, but recently a tribe of Indians made a deal with the museum to keep the meteorite in place for as long as the Clackamas visit it for ceremonial purposes.

When this massive iron meteorite roared from the sky in February 1947, eyewitnesses said it was brighter than the sun. And when the explosion tore it apart, its fragments showered the ground over an area of ​​half a square kilometer in the Sikhote-Alin mountains in Siberia.

The entry into the atmosphere and the explosion was visible within two hundred kilometers. For years, meteorite hunters have scoured the area for the well-recognized metal bars, twisted and curled in interesting ways.

Small pieces of Sikhote-Alin are still sold.

Sulakoga meteorite

One autumn day in 1954, a 31-year-old Alabama housewife named Ann Hodges was dozing on the couch when a five-kilogram meteorite fell from the sky.

He broke through the roof and hit the woman in the thigh. Fortunately, Hodges escaped with a bruise, while the neighbors saw this grapefruit-sized rock as a fireball that cut through the sky. Hodges got her moment of fame, and later donated the meteorite to the Alabama Museum of Natural History.

In Germany, there was a precedent: the boy said that a meteorite had also fallen on him while going to school. A 14-year-old student said he saw a flash of light and was then hit by a pea-sized meteorite. Who knew pebbles could be so dangerous.

ALH 84001

ALH 84001 (let's call it Al for short) was discovered in Antarctica in 1984, 13,000 years after its arrival from Mars.

Yes, from Mars.

Al was born from the lava of a Martian volcano about four and a half billion years ago. 15 million years ago, he lay on the surface of Mars, and then another asteroid or meteorite released him, sending him to Earth, after which he landed on the Allan Hills in Antarctica.

Inside Al, there may be evidence of early Martian life in the form of fossilized algae or small amounts of bacteria.

Orgeil meteorite

The Orgueil meteorite burned through the atmosphere in May 1864, breaking into 20 pieces on its way to the French town of Orgueil. The fragments were soft enough to be cut with a knife, and very soon the remains of the meteorite were distributed to museums around the world.

Since then, the Orgeil meteorite has caused a lot of controversy, as scientists have long thought about where the organic material brought with it came from - what if this is evidence of extraterrestrial life? But in fact, although the meteorite itself was real, the signs of life were faked.

How? Some spores stuck together with coal dust. But it has already happened in our world.

Peekskill meteorite

In 1992, a meteorite crossed the sky over Kentucky and Pittsburgh in greenish flames and crashed into a parked car in Peekskill that was innocent.

It was a 1980 Chevy Malibu that had only received a massive dent and continued to travel the world like a meteorite survivor. And the meteorite was the most ordinary piece of iron the size of a bowling ball.

What was odd was the amount of attention given to the Peekskill meteorite. Due to the fact that he crossed the east coast, his path and trajectory were recorded on video and analyzed by scientists, but it turned out that this is the most common meteorite. It's a pity.

Murchison meteorite

The Murchison meteorite broke into hundreds of pieces when it fell in Australia in September 1969. The largest of the pieces weighed about 50 kg, the smallest - less than 200 grams.

It fell to the ground in a massive fireball followed by a misty tail before disintegrating. Fragments are still being studied.

It turned out that the meteorite contains a wide range of amino acids, the building blocks of life, so the interest in it from astrobiologists is obvious.

The Allende meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1969 in Mexico, broke up into hundreds of fragments in flight. Together they will weigh several tons. Fragments, of course, went to private collections.

Many of the black pebbles are coated with a glassy material that forms under the influence of high temperatures during passage through the atmosphere. The meteorite contains particles that may be older than our solar system, olivine, and even microscopic diamonds. published

Tatyana Sinitsyna, columnist for RIA Novosti.

The recent fall of a meteorite in Peru (Dezagvadero department of Puno province) has already acquired a lot of assumptions and fantasies. According to eyewitnesses, the fireball crashed into the ground to a depth of 6 meters, leaving a 30-meter crater from which a fountain of boiling water escaped. But the main thing is that after a while people felt a strange smell, nausea and headache. A representative of the Peruvian Ministry of Health hastened to declare that "the malaise is caused by poisonous fumes from fragments of a cosmic body, fragments of which may be meteorites, in which there is a high content of organic substances, in particular cyanide."

“Everything that is reported from Peru is typical of meteorite falls,” confirmed RIA Novosti the head of the laboratory of meteoritics at the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry. V.I.Vernadsky, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Mikhail Nazarov. - However, with regard to reports of "strange diseases", allegedly caused by the newly-minted "space guest", then there is doubt. Over the 250 years of the existence of meteoritics in Russia, 102 large meteorite falls have been recorded, 70 of them have been found, 50 samples are stored in the Meteorite Collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences. However, they did not have any negative impact on human health.”

No consequences were noted even after the unique "Sikhotealin rain" (February 12, 1947), when a whole stream of meteorites with a total mass of up to one hundred tons fell on the Far Eastern Ussuri taiga, in the region of the Sikhote Alin mountains, covering an area of ​​35 square meters. kilometers. There is also no information that any other meteorite that fell to the ground (a thousand of them were recorded) manifested itself from a “dangerous” side for human health. “Meteoritic matter, as far as scientists know it, is harmless and quite sterile, compared to terrestrial rocks,” says Mikhail Nazarov. - No microbes, bacteria or viruses of extraterrestrial origin have been found on meteorites. And if we talk about radioactivity, then it is much higher in terrestrial granite rocks.

What then could happen to the Peruvians? “A powerful shock during the fall of a meteorite could cause cracks in the soil, a violation of the groundwater regime, as a result of which poor-quality waters rich in harmful gases, contaminated, etc. could form and enter the sphere of use (rivers, wells, etc.), - believes Mikhail Nazarov. According to him, the meteorite is unlikely to emit (reportedly) smells of lead or silver. These substances, if they are contained in meteorites, then in negligible quantities, their main component - iron sulfides. It was previously noted that after the fall, meteorites emit a certain sulfuric smell, but this will not poison the population. In the Peruvian case, it can be assumed that ore deposits turned out to be in the “target” zone, which reacted to the meteorite impact with the evaporation of their substance. But this is a local and, of course, temporary effect, the scientist is sure.

The Earth's atmosphere plays the role of a shield that protects the planet from falling invading cosmic bodies. Their minimum speed at the entrance to the atmosphere is 11 km/sec. As a result of deceleration, meteorites lose their energy of motion, evaporate, turning into cosmic dust, or fall in the form of meteorites (it all depends on the initial size). Their mass ranges from a few grams to tens of tons. Meteorites seem to be similar, but, nevertheless, different in composition and there are iron, stone and mixed (iron-stone). Some come from the asteroid belt, others are of planetary origin, for example, lunar and Martian meteorites are pieces of rocks from the Moon and Mars.

As Mikhail Nazarov said, there are approximately 20 types of meteorites. Small ones (Peruvian is also considered this) give only mechanical damage. However, with large impacts, there can be global environmental consequences. For example, 65 million years ago, in the Mesozoic era, the entire biota, including dinosaurs, was destroyed by the collision of the Earth with a large cosmic body (or group of bodies).

The fall of meteorites is the area of ​​the elements. Scientists are trying to set up a service for observing asteroids, but the problem is that over time they change their orbits. The second problem is that it is almost impossible to change the trajectory of the fall of a meteorite so that it does not collide with the Earth.

According to Mikhail Nazarov, "the fall of the Peruvian meteorite is still not a very powerful event." The crater is small, 30 meters, and sometimes it reaches a huge size, calculated in many kilometers.

What will happen next? Scientists will extract fragments of the meteorite, examine them, give a conclusion on the geochemical composition, determine the weight, chemical composition, substantiation of the type, coordinates of the fall. Then the meteorite will be given a name (usually according to the place where the find fell). Thus, arriving on Earth, the space "aliens" receives a kind of passport, on the basis of which it is registered in the Meteoritic Society. Then everyone will know exactly what this “thing” is.

The Chelyabinsk fireball drew attention to space, from where asteroids and meteors can be expected to fall. Interest in meteorites, their search and sale has increased.

Chelyabinsk meteorite, photo from Polit.ru

Asteroid, meteor and meteorite

flight paths asteroids designed for a century ahead, they are constantly monitored. These cosmic bodies potentially dangerous for the Earth (the size of a kilometer or more) shine with light reflected from the Sun, so they appear dark from the Earth part of the time. Amateur astronomers are not always able to see them, as city lighting, haze, etc. interfere. Interestingly, most of the asteroids are discovered not by professional astronomers, but by amateurs. Some are even awarded international prizes for this. There are such lovers of astronomy in Russia and other countries. Russia, unfortunately, is losing because of the lack of telescopes. Now that the decision to fund the work to protect the Earth from space threats has been made public, scientists have the hope of acquiring telescopes that can scan the sky at night and warn of imminent danger. Astronomers also hope to receive modern wide-angle telescopes (at least two meters in diameter) with digital cameras.

smaller asteroids, meteoroids, flying in near-Earth space outside the atmosphere, can be seen more often when they fly close to the Earth. And the speed of these celestial bodies is about - 30 - 40 km per second! The flight of such a "pebble" to the Earth can be predicted (at best) only one or two days in advance. In order to understand how small this is, the following fact is indicative: the distance from the Moon to the Earth is overcome in just a few hours.

Meteor looks like a shooting star. It flies in the Earth's atmosphere, often adorned with a burning tail. Real meteor showers happen in the sky. They are more properly called meteor showers. Many are already known. However, some happen unexpectedly when the Earth encounters rocks or pieces of metal roaming the solar system.

fireball, a very large meteor, appears to be a fireball with sparks flying in all directions and a bright tail. The fireball is visible even against the background of the daytime sky. At night, it can illuminate vast areas. The path of the fireball is marked with a smoky stripe. It has a zigzag shape due to air currents.

When a body passes through the atmosphere, a shock wave is generated. A strong shock wave is capable of shaking buildings and the ground. It generates blows similar to explosions and roar.

A space body that has fallen to Earth is called meteorite. This is the rock-hard remnant of those meteoroids lying on the ground that were not completely destroyed during their movement in the atmosphere. In flight, air resistance begins braking, and kinetic energy is converted into heat and light. The temperature of the surface layer and the air shell in this case reaches several thousand degrees. The meteor body partially evaporates and throws out fiery drops. The fragments of the meteor during the landing quickly cool down and fall to the ground warm. From above they are covered with a bark of melting. The place of fall often takes the form of a depression. L. Rykhlova, head of the department of space astrometry at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reported that “about 100 thousand tons of meteoroid matter falls on the Earth every year” (“Echo of Moscow”, 17.02.2013). There are very small and fairly large meteorites. So, the Goba meteorite (1920, South-West Africa, iron) had a mass of about 60 tons, and the Sikhote-Alinsky meteorite (1947, the USSR, which fell with iron rain) - an estimated mass of about 70 tons, collected 23 tons.

Meteorites are made up of eight basic elements: iron, nickel, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, aluminum, calcium, and oxygen. There are other elements, but in small quantities. Meteorites vary in composition. The main ones are: iron (iron combined with nickel and a small amount of cobalt), stony (combination of silicon with oxygen, metal inclusions are possible; small rounded particles are visible at the break), iron-stone (an equal amount of stony and iron with nickel). Some meteorites are of Martian or lunar origin: when large asteroids fall on the surface of these planets, an explosion occurs, and parts of the surface of the planets are ejected into space.

Sometimes meteorites are confused with tektites. These are small black or greenish-yellow molten pieces of silicate glass. They are formed at the moment of the impact of large meteorites on the Earth. There is an assumption about the extraterrestrial origin of tektites. Outwardly, tektites resemble obsidian. They are collected, and jewelers process and use these "precious stones" to decorate their products.

Are meteorites dangerous to humans?

Only a few cases of direct hits of meteorites on houses, cars or people have been recorded. Most of the meteorites end up in the ocean (almost three-quarters of the earth's surface). Densely populated and industrial areas occupy a smaller area. The chance of hitting them is much less. Although sometimes, as we see, this happens and leads to great destruction.

Can you touch meteorites with your hands? They are not considered to pose any danger. But taking meteorites with dirty hands is not worth it. They are advised to immediately put in a clean plastic bag.

How much does a meteorite cost?

Meteorites can be distinguished by a number of features. First of all, they are very heavy. On the surface of the “stone”, smoothed dents and depressions (“fingerprints on clay”) are clearly visible, there is no layering. Fresh meteorites are usually dark, as they melt as they fly through the atmosphere. This characteristic dark melting crust is about 1 mm thick (more common). A meteorite is often recognized by its blunt head. The fracture is often gray in color, with small balls (chondrules) that differ from the crystalline structure of granite. Iron inclusions are clearly visible. From oxidation in air, the color of meteorites that have lain on the ground for a long time becomes brown or rusty. Meteorites are highly magnetized, causing the compass needle to deviate.

Chelyabinsk meteorite - why was it not tracked, can we expect new ones to fall and how strong is the meteorite threat? Astronomers speak.

All about meteorites

Alexander Bagrov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Leading Researcher of the Space Astrometry Department of the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INASAN).

About meteorites

- To answer the question about the origin of meteorites, it is necessary to tell about the origin of the solar system. According to my research, it turns out that the solar system arose about 5 billion years ago. Moreover, the planets arose before the sun arose. The idea that is contained in the Six Days fell into my soul very much, that at first God created the Earth, grass already grew on it, and the Sun arose only on the third day of biblical creation.

We also believe that all the planets first arose, and then the Sun flared up and became a star. The most interesting thing is that the ignition of the Sun coincided with the situation when one of the planets that was between Mars and Jupiter exploded, its fragments scattered throughout the solar system, and now make up the so-called Asteroid Belt. It is possible that the fall of these fragments onto the surface of the then still cold Sun caused the onset of nuclear reactions on the Sun, that is, it ignited this star.

Fragments from the Asteroid Belt can enter our atmosphere. If they do not burn up in the atmosphere, then they fall to the ground, and when we find them, we call them meteorites.

What happened in the sky over Chelyabinsk?

There was a fireball phenomenon over Chelyabinsk - one meteorite flew over the city. This is not a meteor shower, as some journalists say. A meteor shower is the fall of numerous meteorites. As the song says: “One snowflake is not yet snow, one rain is not yet rain,” so one meteorite is not yet a meteor shower.

A meteorite is what we found on earth, and cosmic bodies fly in space. Large bodies are called asteroids, small bodies are called meteoroids. If the body burned up in the atmosphere, then it is called a meteor, if it flew, then the substance found is called a meteorite.

In space, every body moves in its own orbit, and if it does not collide with anything, then it can fly in its orbit for billions of years. But it collides with various elements of the solar system, such as photons that fly from the Sun. Each collision leads to a small change in the orbit. If this change causes the body to meet a planet on its way, then it crashes into it. If this is our planet, then we are seeing starfall, shooting stars, meteors, or meteorites. Every day, dozens of meteors fly over our heads, and millions of meteors fly over the entire earth. The earth has existed for billions of years, and you can imagine how much everything flew in and burned up above the earth. If the cosmic body has sufficient mass, then it does not have time to burn out entirely and reaches the earth. So in 1947 the Sikhote-Alin meteorite fell to the ground. 70 tons of iron flew, and 27 tons were found on the ground.

Why is a meteorite hard to track?

Let me give an analogy - if we cross the road, then we looked to the left and right in search of dangerous bodies - cars. We do not follow the insects under our feet. It is the same here - we don’t even have in our thoughts to keep an eye on small celestial bodies, because they are not dangerous. Dangerous bodies are those whose diameter is above 140 m. The whole world is thinking about how to competently organize a service in order to monitor them. And the meteorite over Chelyabinsk is only a few meters in diameter. You will not see a bug at a distance of 10 km, and it flies these 10 km in a second. It is impossible to keep track of them, and it is useless.

In Russia and in the world, the monitoring system has not been established. The largest asteroids are tracked, but they fly far from the earth, in the region of the Asteroid Belt. Sometimes smaller asteroids fly up to us, but closer. The appearance of such a small asteroid is as sensational as the approach of asteroid 2012 DA14 is now.

Did meteorites harm people?

There was once a case when, I think in the 14th century, a meteorite killed a Chinese. History does not know when a meteorite killed someone other than this Chinese. Sometimes they caused damage. A few years ago, a meteorite hit the roof of an American woman's house. She got more money for it than the whole house was worth.

If the Tunguska meteorite in 1908 would have exploded not over the taiga?

The damage would be very significant. The power of its explosion is estimated at 50 megatons of TNT equivalent, trees in the taiga were knocked down over an area of ​​several thousand square meters. kilometers. If the explosion had occurred over St. Petersburg, then there would be little left of the city.

Should we expect new meteorites?

– This is to be expected, because a lot of things fly in space. In order to keep track of all of them, the system has not yet been created. The threat they pose is high enough for us to think about it. Now the question of a tracking system is being raised and, moreover, the question of creating a countermeasure system is being raised. If such a dangerous body flies to the ground, then you need to get rid of it.

Are there developments in Russia of a system for counteracting meteorites?

Developments are underway, but only at the level of papers, words and ideas, because any equipment costs money, and the money we have in Russia goes to the oligarchs.

Yuri Pidoprygora, astronomer, PhD in physics and astronomy, researcher at the radio astronomical observatory in the village of Dwingeloo in the north of the Netherlands.

From the point of view of astronomy, the phenomenon is unremarkable, the falls of celestial bodies of this magnitude (it is still difficult to accurately estimate the size of a meteoroid or microasteroid, but it clearly does not exceed a couple of meters) occur on average once every few months, well, maybe once a year.

Once upon a time, astronomy was taught in schools and there was such a topic, “Meteors and fireballs”. Young astronomers went on meteor patrols in the summer and everyone dreamed of seeing such a fireball as it flew over Chelyabinsk today. In textbooks and reference books there were diagrams on how to correctly mark the passage of such a celestial body and the address was attached where to send the report in case of luck ...

NASA estimates the size of the Chelyabinsk microasteroid at 15 meters. If this is true, then this event is more unique than previously thought - perhaps the most interesting since the famous explosion over Tunguska.

The only interesting thing here is that the trajectory ran over relatively densely populated areas. And, of course, a funny coincidence in time with the “close” (~ 30,000 km) flyby of the asteroid DA14, which has been much talked about in the press in recent days, which led to a bunch of “misunderstandings” (it would be nice to know how accidental or intentional ) when covering this event in the media.

Even the monitoring of truly dangerous large nearby asteroids is currently being carried out at a far from adequate level, to say nothing of small pebbles. There is another problem - near-Earth orbits are clogged with space debris, which, by and large, no one cares about either. So it’s still good if just a stone falls on your head, and not a barrel with a ton of highly toxic rocket fuel or a spent nuclear reactor ...

Small fragments of celestial bodies, consisting mainly of iron and stone, falling to the surface of celestial bodies from interplanetary space, are called meteorites. For every astronomer, these bodies are of great importance: various experiments and studies are carried out on them. Scientists believe that a meteorite is such a formation of cosmic bodies that could once have been a planet.

Until the nineteenth century, some astronomers rejected the extraterrestrial origin of meteorites. For some reason, it was believed that these bodies are not able to penetrate the earth's atmosphere. However, in the course of numerous experiments, it has been repeatedly proven that stones fall on the earth's surface from interplanetary space.

Features of meteorites

With the research of each celestial body, scientists each time discover something new and ask themselves, what is a meteorite and what else are they?

The main distinguishing feature of the bodies that fell to the Earth is the traces of melting that remain on the surface. This process occurs when a meteorite passes through the Earth's atmosphere. Sometimes, under the influence of a stream of air, they become cone-shaped, somewhat similar to a warhead. In other cases, celestial bodies have a stone-like shape.

The fall of meteorites can be observed with the naked eye in clear weather. This phenomenon is called a "shooting star". In rare cases, you can see meteor showers - when hundreds and even thousands of celestial bodies fall at great speed to Earth, but do not reach it, but burn out in the upper atmosphere. Although some stones manage to get to Earth: the largest accumulation of those is in the Aidar desert.

Types of meteorites

Few people know what a meteorite is. For some reason, people believe that every celestial rock-like body that falls to the Earth or flies past the planet is a meteorite, but this is not entirely true.

So what is a meteorite actually and what could it be? Meteorites are cosmic bodies that fall on the surface of large objects. They can weigh from a few grams to several tons. It is believed that about five tons of meteorites fall to Earth every day.

If a space body with a diameter of several meters moves in orbit and enters the Earth's atmosphere, then it is called a meteoroid. Larger bodies are asteroids.

The phenomenon that occurs when celestial bodies pass through the Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor, and the brightest "shooting stars" are fireballs.

A solid body that falls to Earth is a meteorite. At the site of its fall, craters (astroblems) can form. The most famous meteorite impact crater is the Arizona crater, and the largest in diameter is the Wilkes crater: its diameter is more than 500 kilometers.

Meteorites have other names: atmospheric bodies, meteor stones, uranoliths, siderolites, aerolites, etc.

According to the structure, all falling stones can be iron-stone, iron or stone. These properties made it possible to distinguish classes of meteorites.
Iron bodies are unique. They consist of an alloy of nickel and iron not found on Earth.

A fallen meteorite made of stone consists of chondrule balls. They contain mainly silicates, most of which are known on Earth. But the minerals that make up the bodies on our planet are little known.

iron meteorites

Falling iron meteorites are part of the dead planets. It is believed that they formed the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars. These bodies are strongly attracted to a magnet and are the densest substances on Earth. Iron types are very heavy, some compare them to cannonballs.

Most of the component of this type of body is iron. It is about 90%, and the rest is nickel and other trace elements. According to the structure and chemical composition, these species are divided into classes. But the structural classes are revealed by studying the alloys taenite and kamacite. They have a complex structure.

stone bodies

A fallen meteorite, which is composed of rock, is formed from the outer shell of destroyed planets or asteroids. Most of the stone species are very similar to ordinary terrestrial stones. Recently fallen bodies can be distinguished from rocks by the black, shiny surface formed as a result of passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

Some types of bodies contain small grain-like inclusions called chondrules. They come from the solar nebula, which means they were formed even before the formation of our solar system.

Martian and lunar meteorites

Some falling meteorites come from the Moon and Mars. These bodies are a rarity on Earth. In total, a little more than a hundred thousand pieces were found. These species belong to the achondrite group (stones without chondrules).

These species appeared during the collision of the Moon and Mars with asteroids, during which fragments were thrown into space. Some of them flew to the Earth and fell on its surface. Looking at these types of stones from a collector's point of view, they are very rare and cost thousands of dollars per gram of weight.

Stone-iron bodies

Another type of meteorites is stone-iron. In total, there are less than two percent of the stones belonging to this group. Such species are composed of approximately equal parts of nickel, iron and stone. According to their properties, stony-iron meteorites are divided into pallasite and mesosiderite classes. A photo of meteorites shows how different they can be.

Tunguska explosion

More than a hundred years ago, a strange event took place on the territory of Siberia - a powerful explosion. Later, scientists found out that it was the Tunguska meteorite.

A mysterious phenomenon occurred in the taiga near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. A powerful explosion was heard hundreds of kilometers from the place where the Tunguska meteorite fell. Eyewitnesses of those events told how some bright body swept over the taiga, much brighter than the sun.

At seven in the morning on June 30, 1908, Irkutsk seismologists recorded an explosion. At first they thought it was an earthquake, because such phenomena often occur in these places. However, the recording of the device had a very strange look. The zigzags characteristic of an earthquake were repeated much longer than usual, in addition to this, several strange curves were observed.

Immediately, the observatory staff sent messages to local correspondents to learn about the earthquake. The answer was stunned: there was no earthquake, but a loud sound was heard, like an explosion.

Expeditions to the crash site

The first expedition to the site of the fall of the Tunguska meteorite was sent only twenty years after its fall. It was headed by A. Kulik. Scientists have discovered fallen wood over a vast area. It turned out to be strange that there were trees in the center of the alleged fall, and there was no crater.

For decades, scientists have been trying to find traces of the Tunguska meteorite. Repeatedly A. Kulik tried to find fragments of a celestial body, but he was not there. Even the crater at the site of the alleged fall could not be found.

According to calculations, the Tunguska meteorite was supposed to leave a crater with a diameter of at least a kilometer and a depth of about two hundred meters. Such a huge depression could be seen even now.

In addition, the fall should have caused more serious damage, but even the trees survived in the center. Scientists were baffled by the fact that their branches were broken off in such a way that the explosion hit the plants from above.

Initially, a peat swamp was considered the place where the Tunguska meteorite fell. However, during excavations and drilling, no celestial bodies were found there, and the swamp itself turned out to be a karst funnel. In 1941, Kulik curtailed research due to the outbreak of war.

Modern photos of meteorites show the diversity of these bodies. They can be large, small, leave giant craters. Large asteroids are capable of completely destroying the planet.