Russian scientists have identified the first fragments from Friday’s meteorite in Chelyabinsk.
The pieces, found on the ice of a lake, were stony chondrites.
More on today’s Russian meteorite: Largest in a century.
My earlier skepticism appears incorrect. This impact actually happened.
Note the article’s sense of outrage and panic that we aren’t looking for these types of rocks:
Although a network of telescopes watches for asteroids that might strike Earth, it is geared towards spotting larger objects — between 100 metres and a kilometre in size. “Objects like that are nearly impossible to see until a day or two before impact,” says Timothy Spahr, Director of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which tracks asteroids and small bodies. So far as he knows, he says, his centre also failed to spot the approaching rock.
Yet, today’s impact actually illustrates the wisdom of excluding this kind of small asteroid from searches. They aren’t big enough to do serious harm, and trying to find them would hamper searches for larger asteroids that do pose a serious risk.
An meteorite that crashed in the Sierra Nevada mountains in April was traveling at the fastest speed on record for an meteorite, almost 18 miles per second.
Meteorite hunters in Poland have found Eastern Europe’s larges meteorite, weighing almost 700 pounds.
The uncertainty of science: Meteorite experts now think the rock that hit a pastor’s house could be a piece from last week’s San Francisco fireball.
At first they said, “Yes it was from space,” then they said “No it is not from space.” Now they think yes.
False alarm: The rock found on Sunday is not part of the meteor that fell over San Francisco last week.
The first piece of a meteor that fell over San Francisco on Wednesday has been found.
The 2.2-ounce meteorite hit the roof of Rev. Kent and Lisa Webber on St. Francis Avenue on Thursday night, but they didn’t realize at the time what it was, according to Novato Patch.
Scientists studying a meteorite thought to come from the asteroid Vesta have concluded that it contains evidence that the asteroid once had a magnetic field.
This appears to be a very tentative finding, intriguing and possible, but not yet strongly proven.
Own of piece of the Moon: A four pound meteorite originally from the Moon is up for auction and is expected to sell for more than that $340K.
Scientists have found a previously unknown mineral embedded in a meteorite that crashed to Earth in 1969.
Dubbed panguite, the new titanium oxide is named after Pan Gu, the giant from ancient Chinese mythology who established the world by separating yin from yang to create the earth and the sky. … “Panguite is an especially exciting discovery since it is not only a new mineral, but also a material previously unknown to science,” says Chi Ma, a senior scientist and director of the Geological and Planetary Sciences division’s Analytical Facility at Caltech and corresponding author on the paper.
A massive fireball was seen by countless observers yesterday as it streaked across the United Kingdom. With video.
The Martian meteorite that was recovered in Morocco in July is now thought to contain pockets of trapped Martian atmosphere.
Or at least, the geology says the meteorite should have these pockets. The actual analysis has not yet happened.
A meteorite that fell to Earth last July in Morocco has proven to be a rare chunk of Mars.
