A small sample of the recovered Chelyabinsk meteorite. Credit: NEOShield
The famous February 15th meteorite that exploded over the frozen Chebarkul Lake in Russia is making news once again.
Fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite have been discovered and recovered from the bottom of the lake.
Early this month, divers and scientists teamed to explore the lake and have been successful in bringing to the surface large pieces of the fallen space rock.
Russian media outlets are reporting also that a half-ton fragment has been identified sitting on the lake bottom.
Fireball breakup
On February 15, 2013 the large meteorite hit Earth, damaging thousands of buildings and injuring 1,200 people with its shockwave.
While the burning fireball exploded over Russian skies, according to experts at Europe’s NEOShield project it broke into approximately seven large fragments. One of those chunks made a 26 foot (8 meters) wide hole in the ice.
At that time, measurements of the magnetic field and sonar scans of the area suggested that in the lake lies a meteorite fragment about 2 feet (60 centimeters) in diameter and weighing roughly 660 pounds (300 kilograms).
By Leonard David