A meteorite is really a shooting star?

From time to time, variousspace bodies. They are large and small, invisible and intimidating, iron and silicate, the most diverse. The scientific name of the falling star is a meteorite. This definition applies to bodies larger than 10 μm. Smaller space guests are called micrometeorites.

What are meteorites?

Almost 93% of meteorites are stone. Among them there are chondrites, consisting of silicate spheres (ordinary, carbonaceous and enstatin), and achondrites, which have melted and are accompanied by differentiation in composition into silicates and metals. The remaining bodies are divided into iron-stone (pallasites and mesosiderites) and pure iron.

It is important to note that a meteorite is not a meteor. These concepts mean different things. A meteorite is the body itself, and the meteor is the fiery trace formed in the atmosphere during its fall. It is he who is mistaken for a "falling star", on which the wishes of romantically minded people make a wish.

Dimensions of meteorites

Dimensions of meteorites can be very different. Some of them with a grain of sand, others - reach tens of tons. Representatives of the scientific world say that during the year 21 tons of extraterrestrial bodies get on our planet, while representatives of the stream can weigh from several grams to 1,000 kilograms.

The largest meteorites in the history of the Earth

Sutter Mill fell to Earth on April 22, 2012. His way lay over Nevada and California, and the speed exceeded 29 kilometers per second. Over these states, parts of different sizes were broken off from the meteorite, the bulk of it reached Washington and exploded directly above it. The explosion strength was found to be 4000 tons in TNT equivalent. Scientists know the age of the celestial wanderer - more than 4,500 million years.

In Peru, near Lake Titicaca and close toBolivian border, on September 15, 2007 there was a fall of the cosmic body, fragments of which were not found. The only evidence of what happened is a pit with a depth of 6 and a diameter of 30 meters, filled with muddy water. At the time of the incident, according to local residents, the water boiled with a fountain. There is a version that the composition of the meteorite was poisonous substances, since the field of its fall, eyewitnesses began to have severe migraines.

In June 1998, on the 20th, near the Turkmenof the city of Kunya-Urgench, a space visitor with a weight of 820 kg landed on the cotton field. The diameter of the funnel was about 5 meters. The international meteorological society has calculated the body age - more than 4 billion years - and recognized it as the largest of all that fell in the CIS, and the third largest in the world.

May night of 1990, from the 17th to the 18th, intwenty-five kilometers from Sterlitamak fell a 315-kilogram meteorite. This event occurred on the state farm field, in the soil of which a 10-meter crater was formed. At the same time, the cosmic body itself was immersed in the depth of the earth for 12 m.

The largest of these is the Namibianmeteorite. This iron miracle is named Goba and has a volume of 9 cubic meters and a weight of 66 tons. Its fall occurred 80,000 years ago, but found this ingot only in 1920. Now it is a local landmark.

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