[meteorite-list] Shooting star crashes in Siberia

From: John Sinclair <JSinclairJr_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:06:56 2004
Message-ID: <001d01c26c1d$ea7ce420$38ca1a42_at_triad.rr.com>

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=31&art_id=qw1033700761265M363&set_id
=1

Shooting star crashes in Siberia

October 04 2002 at 05:42AM


Moscow - A meteorite so big that it caused a minor earth tremor crashed into
the Irkutsk region of Siberia on Thursday, appearing to local villagers as a
large ball of fire streaking across the sky, officials said.

There were no reports of casualties from the shooting star, which apparently
fell on a remote area of forest, officials at the Irkutsk Physics and
Geology Institute said.

It said the object, an "imposing space stone" fell around 100km from the
villages of Bodaibo and Balakhninski, where residents saw it cross the sky.

The villagers then felt a slight earth tremor as the meteorite crashed to
earth, Russian news agencies said. Scientists were heading for the impact
zone to investigate.

The brighest such phenomenon ever recorded during human history also
happened over Siberia
Meteorites are large rocks which tumble through space and then get caught in
Earth's gravity, becoming red-hot with the heat of the atmosphere.

Unlike meteors, which burn up completely as they fall and are occasionally
visible in the night sky as shooting stars, meteorites are rocks which are
so big they make it all the way to the ground.

The brighest such phenomenon ever recorded during human history also
happened over Siberia. In 1908 a meteorite hit the Tunguska region,
devastating the forest over an area of some 2 000 square kilometres.

Many scientists also believe that in prehistoric times a massive meteorite
that hit what is now Central America may have caused the disappearance of
the dinosaurs. - Sapa-AFP
Received on Fri 04 Oct 2002 11:18:43 PM PDT