I think many people are aware that our beloved planet is constantly "under fire" from space. But individual specimens still fall on the planet, at times - having maintained a considerable size, and then they leave clearly visible scars on its face.
So, in fact, giant meteorite craters are Lake Mistastin (Canada), Lake Bosumtvi (Ghana), Lake Elgygytgyn in Chukotka and many others. From the blows of very large "space wanderers", a Barringer crater in Arizona (USA) with a diameter of 1200 meters, a 22-km Gossess Bluff in Australia, a 300-km (!) Wredefort in South Africa, etc. were formed. And a giant meteorite that fell in the territory of the future Mexico 65 million years ago and left a shock funnel 168 km in diameter (now called Chicxulub) as a memory of itself, many scientists consider the cause of the death of dinosaurs.
It would seem - all this was a very long time ago. But no! Pretty solid meteorites arrive on the Earth in our time. Let's recall the 10 largest and most famous meteorites that "visited" the planet as early as the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century.
List
- 10. Meteorite Sutter Mill, USA, April 22, 2012.
- 9. A meteorite that fell in China on February 11, 2012.
- 8. Peruvian meteorite, September 15, 2007
- 7. Meteorite Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan, June 20, 1998
- 6. Meteorite Sterlitamak, May 17, 1990
- 5. Meteorite Jilin (Jilin), China, March 8, 1976
- 4. Meteorite Sikhote-Alin, Far East, February 12, 1947
- 3. Goba Meteorite, Namibia, 1920
- 2. Chelyabinsk meteorite, February 15, 2013
- 1. Tunguska meteorite, June 30, 1908
10. Meteorite Sutter Mill, USA, April 22, 2012.
Scientists claim that the age of this “surprise from the Universe” is slightly less than that of the solar system itself. Flying at a tremendous speed of 29 km / s over arid Nevada and Paradise California (and at the same time actively scattering its hot debris all along the way), Sutter Mill invaded Washington's airspace and exploded beautifully there. The power of this “firework” was approximately 4 kilotons. (Just a note: the Chelyabinsk meteorite “made a rustle” at 400+ kilotons).
9. A meteorite that fell in China on February 11, 2012.
Oh, and that February night was probably beautiful! Just imagine the picture: the dark-dark sky and thousands of bright lights of meteor shower. About a hundred small meteorites that did not have time to evaporate in the atmosphere scattered over an area of 100 km². Astronomers have determined that all this pile of stones came to Earth from the asteroid belt (which, as you know, is located between Mars and Jupiter). By the way, one of them turned out to be not so small and “pulled” by 12.6 kg. It’s just fortunate that this boulder didn’t break through someone’s roof.
8. Peruvian meteorite, September 15, 2007
In September 2007, residents of the area near the high mountain lake Titicaca (almost on the border of Peru and Bolivia) heard a sound resembling the howling of a diving aircraft. And soon a certain object engulfed in flames was clearly outlined in heaven. He crashed to the ground with a crash, creating a 30-meter crater (6 meters deep), from where a mass of boiling water hit high up. Judging by further events, the meteorite turned out to be a certain poisonous substance (or substances) - after a couple of hours more than 1,500 people not far from its location began to complain of severe headaches.
7. Meteorite Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan, June 20, 1998
On a June evening in 1998, at half past five local time, the inhabitants of the town of Kunya-Urgench first saw very bright light in the sky (so bright that large objects on the ground began to cast shadows), and then a dark cloud stretched along the flight path of a large and incomprehensible subject. In just seconds, a strong blow rang out, and everyone felt how the earth shuddered. The item fell on a cotton field, leaving a five-meter funnel. Its largest part weighed 820 kg. If meteorites knew how to be proud, this “sturdy” would have good reason to lift his nose: he was officially recognized as the largest stone meteorite discovered in the CIS (and the third in the world!).
6. Meteorite Sterlitamak, May 17, 1990
Landing on the arable land of a local state farm about 20 km from the city of Sterlitamak (South Urals, Bashkiria), this iron block formed a 10-meter funnel in which it crumbled into small fragments. Only a year later, scientists at the local scientific center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in Ufa) dug up its main part, which weighed 315 kg, at a depth of 12 meters. Now this meteorite is stored in the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the same scientific center.
5. Meteorite Jilin (Jilin), China, March 8, 1976
China is lucky for celestial phenomena! (Well, or no luck - it, of course, depends on whether you yourself are at that moment at risk of getting a sickly "bream" from a rapidly flying heavenly cobblestone). In 1976, another "rockfall" in the province of Jilin (Jirin) was very intense - it lasted 37 minutes in a row. Thousands of small meteorites fell from above at a speed of 12 km / s, and all of them “poured” in this way as much as 4 tons. The most solid one weighed 1770 (!) Kg - it was recognized as the largest stone meteorite recorded by scientists.
4. Meteorite Sikhote-Alin, Far East, February 12, 1947
In the winter of 1947, an event occurred in the Sikhote-Alin mountains in the Soviet Far East (directly above the Ussuri taiga): the brightest fireball appeared in the morning sky, which many eyewitnesses remembered in a radius of almost 400 km (it was also visible in Khabarovsk). Having collapsed in flight into numerous fragments, the meteorite made an “iron rain” in the area of Beitsuhe village, at the same time organizing a weak earthquake. Later, its wreckage was found on an area of 35 km². The "Interstellar Wanderer" dug more than 30 craters 7-28 meters in diameter. The pilots of the Far Eastern Geological Administration were the first to find them. Soon, scientists and local residents tracked down approximately 27 tons of fragments, the largest of which pulled 1745 kg. The chemical analysis revealed 94% iron in the meteorite. Now its fragments are stored in the Meteorite Collection of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Khabarovsk Regional Museum. N.I. Grodekova.
3. Goba Meteorite, Namibia, 1920
Strictly speaking, this celestial guest came to Earth not in the 20th century, but much earlier (about 80 thousand years ago). But it was discovered in 1920. The owner of a farm called Goba West, near Grotfontein, plowed his field and "ran" into this metal block purely by accident. At that time, a meteorite (by the way, having a surprisingly smooth and flat surface) weighed about 66 tons and had a volume of 9 m³. But for 35 years (before the moment it was declared a national monument and began to be protected in 1955), this huge piece of metal managed to “lose weight” by 6 tons due to natural erosion, scientific experiments, but most of all - by the grace of tourists constantly trying to "pinch off" a piece of meteorite. Scientists consider Goba the largest specimen of an iron meteorite (it contains 84% iron, the remaining 16% is nickel and an insignificant admixture of cobalt), as well as the most powerful whole block of naturally occurring iron ever discovered. Today you can see this meteorite (for a small fee) in the same place where it was found.
2. Chelyabinsk meteorite, February 15, 2013
The Chelyabinsk meteorite can be safely called the most famous meteorite of the beginning of the 21st century, not least because of YouTube, where its fall could be observed almost online, since today every second resident of a large Russian city has a smartphone with a good web-camera. The spectacular flight of this handsome man, which lasted, in total, only 32 seconds, managed to shoot tens of thousands of times. Scientists consider the Chelyabinsk guest unique for several reasons: firstly, cosmic bodies (thank God!) Very rarely fall near large cities; secondly, it turned out to be the largest after the legendary Tunguska meteorite (before the explosion over Chelyabinsk, its weight was 10 tons and its diameter was about 17 meters); thirdly, the Chelyabinsk meteorite entered the Earth’s atmosphere from a very sharp angle - which is why it could be observed for a long time. A powerful meteorite explosion at an altitude of 23-25 km directly above the city at 9.20 a.m. nearly led to human casualties. Due to the shock wave that knocked out windows in many residential buildings, offices and institutions of Chelyabinsk, 1,613 people were injured (most from glass fragments).
1. Tunguska meteorite, June 30, 1908
And, finally, the world famous “star” among meteorites is the Tunguska miracle, or the Tunguska phenomenon, or simply the Tunguska meteorite. In the early June morning of 1908 (at about 7 o’clock) a huge fireball swept over the almost uninhabited areas of the Yenisei taiga from the southeast to the northwest (it was seen by several nomadic Evenki families, residents of the nearby village and rare hunters). The flight of an unknown object was accompanied by a strange buzz. Soon there was a powerful explosion, from which glass flew out even in houses located hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter.
The blast wave 2 times (!) Went around the globe; it was recorded by weather stations and observatories in various countries. A glow was observed in the sky over the whole Central Siberia a few days after this event. The consequences of the explosion (according to the calculations of scientists that occurred at an altitude of about 8 km) were terrifying: on an area of more than 2 thousand km², the trees were uprooted and felled, many forest animals died (up to 40 km away (people were injured, they say), a strong magnetic storm.
The explosive power of the Tunguska miracle, given the impressive impact on the taiga massif, is estimated by scientists at about 40-50 megatons, a powerful hydrogen bomb gives this effect. In theory, in this case, an impressive crater (at least half a kilometer deep) should remain, which, nevertheless, has never been discovered by anyone. But the strangest thing is that not a single scientific expedition to this day has found the smallest fragment and meteorite itself. (By the way, the first of them - the expedition of Leonid Alekseevich Kulik - was able to get to the supposed place of the fall in the area of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River only in 1927, that is, 19 years after the phenomenon itself!). The only things that were found in the soil and in the wood of fallen trees are microscopic magnetite and silicate balls, which are probably not of earthly and not quite natural origin.
Then what was it? There are many versions (up to this one: it’s the famous Nikola Tesla who conducted some kind of experiment with electricity, but since he realized the danger of the event, he carried it out where people could hardly suffer), but still the main one was meteorite, it just crumbled into very small (dusty) fragments.