It’s a rare look at a common occurrence, and a moment in time people continued to talk about nearly a day after a meteor burned a streak across the sky in central Russia – and videos of the event and its aftermath went viral almost immediately.
“Here we’re talking about something that is 15 metres across, by all estimates, and thousands of metric tonnes, just coming screaming into the atmosphere,” U of A meteorite expert Dr. Chris Herd said.
The rare sight was caught on numerous dashboard and security cameras in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia’s Ural Mountains – which is located about 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.
Dr. Herd said the space rock could have been travelling at speeds of up to 55,000 kilometres per hour when it passed through Earth’s atmosphere.
“At that speed the atmosphere is a major barrier, and it’s smashing into it,” Dr. Herd said.
“What’s remarkable is the fireball has gone over, there’s a streak of cloud, which is the trail that’s left behind as it passes through the atmosphere and people are out there filming it and looking at it.”
A growing number of amateur videos posted online show the blindingly bright streak burning across the sky, before disappearing – but it’s what happens next that struck fear in many.
Moments after the bright light fades, a sonic boom ripped through surrounding areas, Russian officials said the blast blew out an estimated 100,000 square metres of glass windows, damaged about 3,000 buildings, set off car numerous alarms and injured nearly 1,000 people.
Frank Florian with the Telus World of Science said smaller fragments of debris from space fall to earth regularly, but they’re often so small we don’t see them.
However, Friday’s event caused many in Alberta to recall another fireball that landed in the province in November 2008.
“That had everyone in Alberta who was out in the early evening looking up, seeing this bright fireball,” Florian said.
Fragments from that event were found by researchers and a farmer in the Lloydminster area weeks after the Nov. 20 light show – later called the Buzzard Coulee meteorite.
Back in Russian, a six-metre wide crater was found in the area of Chebarkul, near a reservoir where meteorite pieces are known to have fallen.
In Chelyabinsk, officials with Russia’s Interior Ministry said most of the hundreds of people injured were hurt by fragments of glass, and 44 had to be hospitalized.
NASA and the European Space Agency said later Friday, the meteor in Russia was not related to Asteroid 2012 DA14 – which came within record proximity of Earth later in the day.
That asteroid came within 28,000 kilometres of Earth – which is closer than some satellites orbiting the planet.
With files from Susan Amerongen, and CTVNews.ca
