NASA experts led by a senior fellow The Institute of Geosphere Dynamics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Olga Popova was first identified speed, mass and brightness of fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, fell in February of this year. In an interview with Voice of Russia Olga Popova spoke about the results of the study
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– What was the weight of the Chelyabinsk meteorite?
– About 10 thousand tons. Its approximate size is 18-20 meters in diameter. That is, this body is about six or seven-story house. That such a space object entered the earth the atmosphere.
A photo from open sources
Photo: RIA Novosti
– With what speed did he enter the Earth’s atmosphere?
– At a speed of about 19 kilometers per second. Our rating turned out to be slightly higher than the previous one. Big role in this The study belongs to the specialists of the Russian Academy of Sciences from Institute of Geosphere Dynamics, from the Institute of Astronomy, from the Institute Vernadsky geochemistry.
A photo from open sources
Photo: RIA Novosti
– How often do such objects enter the Earth’s atmosphere and reach Of the earth?
– It depends on the size. Into the Earth’s atmosphere all the time space objects. Basically, of course, these are small particles millimeter or less. Object size order several meters during the year on the Earth’s surface about 10-30. And such large objects as the Chelyabinsk meteorite even more rare. Perhaps they fall once every 50-100 years. We to Unfortunately, we don’t know the frequency of such events, because observations little, but we know for sure that an object with close energy entered Earth’s atmosphere in 1963, not very far from South Africa.
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Photo: RIA Novosti
– Assuming that such an object does not explode in the forest or in field, and over a large settlement that threatens in such case?
– Chelyabinsk was lucky that the trajectory of the meteorite’s entrance was very gentle. That is, the angle with respect to the horizon was small. If if the input were more vertical, then the effects would also be stronger.
– That is, he would have exploded over Chelyabinsk?
– He walked a little to the side. But if the slope of the trajectory was different, then the shock wave would be stronger.
A photo from open sources
Photo: RIA Novosti
– Where do such objects come from, like they are in space are formed?
– Basically we know the orbits of all large objects, there are only about 20. They all come from the asteroid belt.
– Why didn’t we predict the fall of Chelyabinsk meteorite?
– “Chelyabinsk” meteorite, from our point of view, is enough big, but with astronomical it is definitely small. In space a lot of such objects. We know little about them.
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Photo: RIA Novosti
– On Earth there is no such technology that would see these objects?
“It’s hard to see them.” We need a lot more appliances to Follow them and look for them in the sky. It is quite expensive projects.
– The object flying over California on the night of November 7, too was a meteorite like Chelyabinsk?
– Probably. But it was hardly the same size as Chelyabinsk. I think smaller. I think this is one of those objects that annually enter our atmosphere.
A photo from open sources
© Photo: Milena Faustova / Voice of Russia
Russia Chelyabinsk
