A considerable number of meteorites are found on Earth every year. Have you ever wondered about the true number of meteorites found on the globe? According to research centers, only 12-15 meteorites fall into the hands of people a year, no more. Meanwhile, about 1,000 pieces of debris reach the Earth, however, the lion's share of this number is taken by the oceans, as well as forests and other uninhabited areas.
Origin of meteorites
Regarding the origin of these celestial bodies, it must be said that the point of view according to which meteorites are just the remains of planets that once existed seems to scientists to be the most correct. There is a fairly large group of small planets; their diameter, as a rule, does not exceed one kilometer; it is due to their collisions that meteorite bodies are formed. The process of movement and impact is continuous and the resulting fragments, colliding, form ever smaller meteorite fragments, and their number in interplanetary space is replenished.
Where do the names of meteorites come from?
All meteorites that fell on our planet can be divided into two groups. The first is discovery meteorites, that is, those celestial bodies that unexpectedly leaked through the Earth’s atmosphere and, having fallen, were lost in its depths until they became accidentally discovered. The second conditional group consists of meteorites, the movement and fall of which was recorded by special instruments, whose path to the Earth was tracked by scientists. These are falling meteorites. Any meteorite that has become famous gets its name from nearby geographical features, be it mountains or rivers, or nearby populated areas.
Meteorite fall research
As the famous chemist Ivan Mukhin said back in 1819, “the beginning of legends about stones and iron blocks falling from the air is lost in the deepest darkness of centuries that have passed.”
Meteorites were known even to primitive people; thousands of years ago, some of the tools of these people were already made of iron, brought to our planet by meteorites. Of course, such finds were accidental; when making a tool for work, the ancient man hardly realized that this piece of iron had come from outer space. Watching the unforgettable spectacle of a meteorite falling on the planet, a person turned the found fragment into an object of religious worship, in other words, a gift from the gods. There are numerous legends and tales about such gifts; once upon a time they were even chained to the ground with chains so that they would not fly back into the sky, because such gifts were considered a blessing.
During the heyday of Ancient Greece, many thinkers had a fairly correct idea of the origin of celestial bodies that periodically fall to Earth. For example, Anaxagoras wrote that today's meteorites are nothing more than fragments of solid celestial bodies or fragments of the Earth. Other thinkers of Ancient Greece also believed that meteorites were fragments of the celestial firmament. However, along with the decline of Greek civilization, these relatively correct ideas were replaced by completely polar judgments. Their essence boiled down to anything but the true reasons for the appearance of meteorites.
It was only in the 18th century that the scientific basis for modern meteoritics appeared. This was done by the then quite famous German physicist Ernst Chladni (1756-1827). 
It was this man who devoted part of his life to collecting descriptions of fireballs and their subsequent comparison with the information that is known about the meteorites found. A subsequently published book entitled “On the origin of the iron masses found by Pallas and other similar ones and on some natural phenomena related to this” contained a lot of interesting data, in particular about the huge sample of “native iron” found in 1749 by the Siberian blacksmith Yakov Medvedev, which weighed as much as 42 pounds (about 700 kg). As it turned out later, it was a rather rare type of meteorite, consisting of rock and iron. It was decided to call such meteorites pallasites, in honor of Peter Pallas, an academician who studied the sought-after nugget. Chladni's book clearly and consistently proved the cosmic origin of the iron meteorite found in Siberia and other bodies that fell from the sky onto our planet.
As already mentioned, meteorites can be either “fallen” or “found”. If a celestial body was discovered somewhere and subsequent analysis established its cosmic origin, then this is a typical case of a “found” meteorite. If someone managed to see the fall and subsequently discovered both the place of the fall and the meteorite itself, then such a celestial body is usually considered to have “fallen.”
The most famous cases of meteorites falling on Russian territory
The Laurentian Chronicle of 1091 already mentions the fall of such a body on the territory of present-day Russia, however, the details of this fall, alas, are not reported.
But already in the 20th century, several significant meteorite events occurred, the largest of which occurred on June 30, 1908 under the Kamennaya Tunguska River. Only a three-year-old child doesn’t know about the famous Tunguska meteorite. An explosion equivalent to 1,000 atomic bombs truly shook the Earth's atmosphere. Everything happened at an altitude of about 8 km above the ground, and the shock wave, having circled the globe several times, eventually led to trees being toppled at the epicenter of the incident within a radius of 40 km. That time, fortunately, only deer died; due to the fact that the epicenter was in deserted places, terrible consequences were avoided.
Political events that took place at the beginning of the century in Russia did not allow us to study the crash site immediately. Scientists began this process much later, as much as 20 years later. And, having started research, scientific minds were very surprised by the absence of any debris at the epicenter. Without giving up hope, the researchers continued their research, however, they found nothing. Most scientists agree that this is due to the fall of a comet's nucleus onto our planet.
The 20th century was marked by other cosmic phenomena. In today's Volgograd region, on December 6, 1922, a whole rain of stone meteorites fell. However, traditionally traces of this event were discovered much later, in 1979. As it turned out, this cosmic rain took place over an area of 15 sq. km. Scientists managed to find 1.6 tons of fragments, the most representative of which weighed 284 kg. It is still considered the largest celestial body found in Russia, and the 3rd in the world.
There is another large and famous meteorite observed during the fall - this is the Sikhote-Alinsky one, it fell in 1947 in the Far East. The fireball of this meteorite was so dazzling that it could be seen at 11 o'clock in the afternoon in Khabarovsk and other cities in this part of the world. Even after the trail in the air disappeared, the roar and hum continued for a long time, and the dusty trail cleared for more than 2 hours. This time they set out to search quickly; there was enough information about the observations.
Academicians V.G. Fesenkov who led the expedition. and E.L. Krinov, found as many as 24 craters with a diameter of 9-27 m. There were a lot of fragments, 3500 pieces, and all because the meteorite crumbled while still in flight. The composition of these fragments also turned out to be very curious - iron and some silicates. The initial mass of the celestial body was calculated by calculation; it was about 70 tons, while the largest fragment found weighed 27 tons. At that time, the crash site was also a sparsely populated area, so no one was injured.
Not so long ago, in May 1990, at 23:30, in Bashkiria, the local population witnessed the fall of a meteorite, later named Sterlitamak. People kept saying that in an instant, the sky was lit up by such a bright flash that it became light, as if the day had suddenly come, you could hear a deafening noise and crackling, so much so that the glass was ringing. Of course, researchers immediately headed to the crash site to discover a fairly large crater, about 10 m in diameter and 5 m deep, and only two small iron fragments. They weighed only 6 and 3 kg. The development of the crater with an excavator began immediately, largely due to the carelessness of this development, people missed the main fragment. Fortunately, he was found a year later by children playing near the crater, and he weighed 315 kg.
The light and noise effects observed during the fall of, for example, the Tunguska meteorite are explained by scientists as short electrical discharges that always accompany its fall. Therefore, the “noise like the wings of hundreds of frightened birds” that observers spoke of has a completely logical scientific explanation.
The main feature of meteorites is the so-called melting crust. It has a thickness of no more than 1 mm and covers the meteorite on all sides in the form of a thin shell. The black bark on stony meteorites is especially noticeable.
The second sign of meteorites is the characteristic pits on their surface. Meteorites usually come in the form of debris. But sometimes there are meteorites with a remarkable cone shape. They resemble a projectile head. This cone-shaped shape is formed as a result of the “sharpening” action of air.
The largest single meteorite was found in Africa in 1920. This meteorite is iron and weighs about 60 tons. Usually meteorites weigh several kilograms. Meteorites weighing tens, and even more so hundreds of kilograms fall very rarely. The smallest meteorites weigh fractions of a gram. For example, at the site of the fall of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, the smallest specimen was found in the form of a grain weighing only 0.18 G; The diameter of this meteorite is only 4 mm.
Stone meteorites fall most often: on average, out of 16 meteorites that fall, only one turns out to be iron.
WHAT ARE METEORITES MADE OF?
By studying the chemical composition of meteorites, scientists have determined that meteorites consist of the same chemical elements that are found on Earth. No new elements were found in them.
The eight chemical elements most commonly found in meteorites are iron, nickel, sulfur, magnesium, silicon, aluminum, calcium and oxygen. All other chemical elements of the periodic table are found in meteorites in negligible, microscopic quantities. By combining chemically with each other, these elements form various minerals. Most of these minerals are found in terrestrial rocks. And in very insignificant quantities minerals were found in meteorites that do not and cannot exist on Earth, since it has an atmosphere with a high oxygen content. When they combine with oxygen, these minerals form other substances.
Iron meteorites are composed almost entirely of iron combined with nickel, while stony meteorites are composed primarily of minerals called silicates. They consist of compounds of magnesium, aluminum, calcium, silicon and oxygen.
The internal structure of iron meteorites is especially interesting. Their polished surfaces become shiny like a mirror. If you etch such a surface with a weak acid solution, an intricate pattern usually appears on it, consisting of individual stripes and narrow edges intertwining with each other. On the surfaces of some meteorites, parallel thin lines appear after etching. All this is the result of the internal crystalline structure of iron meteorites.
The structure of stone meteorites is no less interesting. If you look at a fracture in a stone meteorite, you can often see even with the naked eye small round balls scattered across the surface of the fracture. These balls sometimes reach the size of a pea. In addition to them, scattered tiny shiny white particles are visible in the fracture. These are inclusions of nickel iron. Among such particles there are golden sparkles - inclusions of a mineral consisting of iron combined with sulfur. There are meteorites that look like an iron sponge, in the voids of which grains of the yellowish-green color of the mineral olivine are contained.
ORIGIN OF METEORITES
Most scientists believe that meteorites are fragments of one or (more likely) several large celestial bodies, similar to asteroids that previously existed in the solar system.
Soviet scientists - Academician V. G. Fesenkov, S. V. Orlov and others - believe that asteroids and meteorites are closely related to each other. Asteroids are giant meteorites, and meteorites are very small, dwarf asteroids. Both are fragments of planets that billions of years ago moved around the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. These planets apparently fell apart as a result of the collision. Countless fragments of various sizes were formed, down to the smallest grains. These fragments are now carried in interplanetary space and, colliding with the Earth, fall onto it in the form of meteorites.
HELP OF THE POPULATION IN COLLECTING METEORITES
Meteorites always fall unexpectedly, and it is impossible to predict when and where it will happen. Therefore, specialists cannot prepare in advance for observations of meteorite falls. Meanwhile, the study of the movements of meteoric bodies in the earth's atmosphere is of very great scientific importance.
In addition, by observing the fireball, you can approximately determine the place where the meteorite could have fallen and search for it there. Therefore, the public can greatly help scientists in their work if eyewitnesses of the meteorite fall describe in detail all the phenomena that they noticed during the movement of the fireball and the fall of the meteorite to the Earth.
By obtaining a large number of such descriptions made by eyewitnesses in different populated areas, it is possible to quite accurately determine the path of the meteoroid in the earth's atmosphere, the height of the appearance and disappearance of the fireball, as well as the inclination and direction of its path. Reports of meteorites should be sent to the Committee on Meteorites of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
If a meteorite is found, under no circumstances should it be crushed. It is necessary to take all measures to protect it and transfer it to the Committee on Meteorites.
When describing the fireball phenomenon, it is necessary, if possible, to answer the following questions: 1) date and time of the fall; 2) observation location; 3) direction of movement of the car; 4) duration of the car’s flight in seconds; 5) the size of the fireball compared to the apparent size of the Moon or Sun; 6) car color; 7) whether the area was illuminated during the flight of the car; 8) whether fragmentation of the car was observed; 9) whether there was a trace left behind the car; what is its form and subsequent change, as well as the duration of visibility; 10) what sounds were observed during the flight of the car and after its disappearance.
The description must also indicate the last name, first name, patronymic and address of the observer.
If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.
Titarenko Sergey
Graduated from the Military Space Academy named after. A.F. Mozhaisky, retraining courses at the Air Force Academy named after. Professor N. E. Zhukovsky, specializing in “Research of natural resources by aerospace means.” Specialist in Earth remote sensing and space exploration. After leaving the Armed Forces, he taught geoscience at the Air Force Academy. Professor N. E. Zhukovsky. Currently, he is an employee of one of the divisions of Roscosmos.
A person is always afraid of the unknown, the incomprehensible. This gives rise to a lot of rumors and prejudices. And it’s good when events and their reasons are not hushed up when information reaches people.
One of the reasons for the fears associated with the fall of the Chebarkul meteorite was that astronomy teaching in schools has recently stopped. Otherwise, everyone would know about the cosmic bodies surrounding our planet, our solar system, and the laws of their movement.
So I'll start with some information.
In our case, we are interested in three types of cosmic bodies that “live” in the Solar System. These are asteroids, comets and meteoroid matter.
Asteroids are small planets of the solar system with a diameter from 1000 (Cetsere) to several hundred kilometers. The orbits of 40,000 asteroids have now been calculated. Most of them are located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, forming the so-called “main belt”. But not all of them behave in such a “disciplined” manner. Some come closer to the Sun than Mercury, some go beyond the orbit of Saturn. The Apollo group asteroids, which come very close to the Earth’s orbit, may worry us. On December 8, 1992, the asteroid Tautatis flew past the Earth at a distance of 3.6 million km. Theoretically, once every hundred years, one of the Apollo asteroids could come close to the Earth, and in the worst case, collide with it. This will release energy equal to the explosion of 10,000 hydrogen bombs with a power of 10 Mt. A crater with a diameter of 20 km is formed. Draw your own conclusions.
Comets are small bodies in the solar system and typically orbit the sun. There are millions of them. A comet consists of a head and a tail. The head is a solid core consisting of ice mixed with rocky and ferrous particles, also surrounded by gas. The nuclei of most comets are several kilometers across. Their orbits are rather randomly oriented in space, some intersecting the orbits of planets, including the Earth. The periods of orbital motion of comets can range from several years to millions of years. There is an assumption that the fall of the Tunguska meteorite in 1908 in the Podkamennaya Tunguska region was actually a collision of the Earth with a fragment of the nucleus of comet Encke. In 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere, causing a massive disturbance.
Meteoroid matter is small celestial bodies ranging in size from a speck of dust to a block. Unlike the asteroids and comets described above, their movements are difficult to predict, both because of their size, which makes them difficult to observe, and because of their sheer number. This is a kind of “space rubble”.
Small particles entering the Earth's atmosphere become meteorites, burning up in its upper layers. Then we see “star rain”. Large celestial bodies - bolides - do not have time to burn out in the atmosphere and fall to the surface. The weight of such bodies is several thousand tons. About 2,000 meteorites fall to Earth every year.
When large meteorites fall, craters are formed. The largest meteorite crater on Earth is located in Arizona near Diablo Canyon. Its diameter is 1265 m.
Based on their composition, meteorites are divided into iron (siderites), stony-iron (siderolites) and stone (aerolites). Stone ones, in turn, are divided into chondrites and achondrites. This difference is due to their composition.
The meteorite that visited us a month ago belongs to chondrites.
And we can consider ourselves lucky. The fact is that iron meteorites do not explode in the air and reach the surface of the Earth. In this case, the consequences would be much worse. But in our case, the fireball collapsed in the air, at a high altitude, which reduced its destructive effect. As it has already become clear to you, the fall of celestial bodies to Earth is a rather trivial event. Everything depends only on the size and composition of these bodies. Their fall can occur anywhere on the planet.
It is extremely difficult, almost impossible, to predict, calculate or predict their fall. Our space control systems have other tasks, and our weapons are not able to hit targets entering the atmosphere at such angles and at such speeds. Even the optical space control system of the Russian Aerospace Defense is not able to perform such tasks, because monitors even small-sized objects at long ranges, but in certain areas of outer space.
So there is no need to speculate or stir up panic, but rather rely on the facts.
And for greater clarity, we have drawn the following diagram for you:
- Tell me, where do meteorites come from?
There is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There are such fragments flying there - asteroids - from thousands of kilometers to meters, millimeters. Stone, metal, metal-stone. And they constantly collide with each other, change their trajectory and fall into the Earth’s gravitational field. And when they fall to Earth, they are called meteorites.
- How did this asteroid belt arise?
There is such a law - each subsequent planet is approximately twice the distance from the Sun than the previous one. Let's say the Earth is twice as far from the Sun as Venus, Mars is twice as far from the Sun as the Earth. And it turns out that there is a kind of “hole” between Mars and Jupiter. That is, this space is not filled with a planet, it is not there. But there are a lot of asteroids circling there. That is, these fragments are a kind of remnants of a protoplanetary gas and dust nebula that did not go into the formation of the planet. How were these asteroids formed? There are two hypotheses. The first is that there was also a planet there and it was called Phaeton. That is, there was Mars, Phaeton, Jupiter. But due to the fact that Jupiter is very powerful, it contributed to the collapse of the planet Phaeton, and we have its remains. The second hypothesis of researchers, of which I am one, is that it was Jupiter that did not allow the planet to form. He changed the orbits of these asteroids so much that he did not give them the opportunity to gather together. And if you look at meteorites, they show how asteroids constantly collided in space and crumbled into even smaller fragments.
- But other planets were able to form, unlike Phaethon?
There is such a scientific term - accretion, that is, sticking together. The Earth and all the planets, and the same asteroids, were formed as a result of the aggregation of initial dust - less than a thousandth and a millionth of a millimeter. But where there is an asteroid belt, this accretion process did not take place completely.
- What practical significance do meteorites have?
Previously - until the 19th century - it was believed that meteorites had no scientific significance. But now there is a very rapid development of the instrumental base for research, which makes it possible to work with very small objects. These studies over the past 25-30 years have made a kind of revolution in the study of cosmic matter. It is now fashionable to talk about stem cells in biology, which provide information about how the entire organism develops. So, meteorites are a kind of stem cells of the solar system. If you study them, you get information about the earliest stages of the development of the Solar System. The meteorites are approximately 4.6 billion years old. That is, they talk about what happened at the stage of the birth of the gas-dust nebula, which preceded the creation of the Solar system.
- But scientists have not always recognized the existence of asteroids that fall to Earth as meteorites...
The first meteorite fall was recorded in writing in 2133 BC in China. However, “heavenly stones” received scientific recognition only at the beginning of the 19th century. It is known that evidence about meteorites was ignored for a long time by the Paris Academy of Sciences, and even such an authoritative chemist as Antoine Lavoisier argued that “stones falling from the sky is physically impossible.” At first it seemed that there was Earth and air. How then can a stone fall from thin air? This contradicted all physical laws that were known at that time. But when in the 19th century they began to study samples of stone meteorites under a microscope, they saw that there were no such rocks on Earth, i.e., simply put, such stones. And then they began to talk about the fact that perhaps it was from the asteroid belt, which at that time had already begun to be observed.
I wonder from what sources do scientists learn about meteorite falls? Are these primarily eyewitness accounts?
Our department, the Department of Cosmoecology and Space Mineralogy, together with the Committee on Meteorites of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, is the only organization that is engaged in both the collection and research of space samples. We receive a lot of information about space debris. These are details of space satellites. People saw that it was flying, burning, and falling. People ran up, it was hot, it was burned. There is even a melting crust on it, but these are not meteorites. I remember how in the 1970s, police officials called us from Shpola Cherkasskaya. A sample weighing about six kilograms pierced the roof and crashed 6 cm into the stone floor. Unfortunately, it was not a meteorite, but some kind of man-made debris. Since it was enriched with refractory chemical elements, it most likely belonged to the combustion chamber of one of the satellites, of which there are currently a lot in earth orbit. By the way, meteorite falls often occur under interesting circumstances. One of the first meteorites recorded in Ukraine, Zhigailovka (Sumy region, 1787), landed in front of the shepherds, who thought that some kind of black bird had fallen. The find ended up in... pharmacies, where it remained for 16 years, until they learned about it at Kharkov University and took it into their collection. The fall of the Yurtuk stone meteorite (Zaporozhye region, 1936) was preceded by the appearance of a bright fireball in the sky, the flight of which was accompanied by roar, rattling and whistling. One of the fragments of this meteorite was found in the attic of the house. A similar story happened in Donetsk in 1969 - the Andreevka meteorite “shot through” the roof of a house.
- What is the probability of a meteorite hitting a person?
There have been no such cases in history, and they are unlikely. In 1860, a sample of the Ohio meteor shower in the United States is known to have killed a foal, and in 1914, a sample of the Nakla meteorite in Egypt killed a dog. From this point of view, falling debris from satellites is more dangerous.
-What are the sizes of meteorites?
Meteorites range from small sizes to tens of tons. For example, a sample of iron meteor shower in Sikhote-Alin (Russia) is 0.3 mg. And the Goba iron meteorite in Namibia weighs 60 tons.
- There is such a thing as “black” archeology. Is there a “black” meteorite?
Previously, meteorites were exclusively studied by scientists. And for them these are truly priceless samples. Because if we want to get samples, for example, of the Moon, we invest huge amounts of money. Some kind of device must fly there, there must be a program. Also, Mars exploration programs are huge funds. Here the samples themselves fall to Earth, they are free. And in the early 1990s, only scientists were doing this. Since the 1990s, when collectors became interested in meteorites, we have been afraid that something would be stolen from our collection. When we go on an expedition, we worry that the so-called “black” meteorite researchers will find out about this and buy some samples from the peasants, because this will ruin science. We have a Code on Subsoil, which states that, in particular, meteorites are the property of the state. Now oligarchs are beginning to become interested in meteorites. And they contact me directly so that we can conduct an examination of what they have and, perhaps, sell them something from our collection. In the world, meteorology is considered an elite science. And sometimes people come up to me at international conferences abroad and say: “You are a poor country. What is your collection for? Sell it."
- How many meteorites does the Ukrainian collection have?
The Ukrainian collection includes 90 meteorites from 25 countries; it is stored in the Scientific and Natural History Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The collection was founded in the century before last with the assistance of Kyiv University. Our collection is known among scientists due to the presence in it of the Krymka meteorite, unique in its cosmic nature, which fell as part of a meteor shower in 1946 in the Nikolaev region. The meteorite contains fragments of exotic cosmic matter that is not found in other meteorites and whose characteristics are very similar to the mineral substances of comets.
- How many meteorites fell on the territory of Ukraine?
In total, 43 meteorites have been registered. Among Ukrainian samples, stone meteorites predominate - 39 specimens. 4 iron ones were also found. Unfortunately, there was no fall of another type in Ukraine - iron-stone meteorites. Among the finds registered on the territory of our country, the majority are meteorites that fell to Earth in the form of one solid body.
Just the facts
Very often the phenomenon of solid particles, of which there are many in space, entering the atmosphere. There, during braking, they begin to heat up and glow due to the heated gases. We call this phenomenon “meteor shower”. Some particles break up and fall to Earth. They often burn out before reaching us, and those that do reach the surface of our planet are covered with a black crust. Science divides meteorites into: iron, iron-stone and stone. Space rocks are often found long after a meteor shower has passed. Their age is very easy to find out; it all depends on the amount of radioactive elements and lead. There are specimens that are 4.5 billion years old. Meteorite impacts often leave craters on the earth, the largest of which is located in Arizona, USA.
Assumptions
There are versions that the fall of meteorites is a consequence of the fact that asteroids, together with their orbits, collide with the earth’s. After some research, it was concluded that meteorites are the internal particles of some planet or huge asteroid. Most often, meteor showers arise from its belt, which is located between the orbits of two planets, namely Mars and Jupiter. Another version is the fragments of the tenth planet, which is called Phaeton. According to the calculations of astrophysicists, a person can get hit on the head with a stone once every 10 years. It became a little scary, you need to be more careful on the street.
Meteorite fall in numbers
To date, about 2.5 thousand pieces have been found;
About 16 structures can be damaged by meteor showers each year;
A specimen was found in Africa that weighs 60 tons;
6% are iron meteorites;
The first space rock became known in 644 BC. e.;
About 21.3 tons fall to the ground each year;
In 1833, the most massive meteorite shower occurred; it lasted about 10 hours, and during this time about 240 thousand stones of different sizes appeared on Earth.
The most famous meteorites
Okhansk. The stone weighs 145 kg. Refers to stony meteorites. He found himself on Earth in 1887.
Farm. Its weight is 107 kg. Refers to stony meteorites. Fell to Earth in 1938.
Sikhote-Alin meteorite. 23 tons is the weight of this stone. Refers to iron meteorites. Landed on our planet in 1947. Included in the TOP 10 largest finds.
Dronino. Meteor shower that took place in Russia in 2003.
The best
The oldest one weighs 2 tons, and it landed on Earth 1.9 billion years ago.
The largest is called Goba and weighs 60 tons.
The largest amount is found in the ice shell of Antarctica.
The most powerful meteor shower in the modern world was in China in 1976, it lasted approximately 37 minutes.
The largest collection is located in St. Petersburg in the Mining Museum.
The most unusual one weighs only 2 kg and has a strange physical and chemical composition.
Meteor Shower 2013
In August, namely on the 12th, there was a meteor shower. About 100 pieces descended from the sky per hour. stones. Many residents of our country were able to enjoy this wonderful spectacle. Previously, of course, it was believed that such precipitation would not lead to anything good, but today it is neither more nor less than just a beautiful natural phenomenon.
