A meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere early Friday morning and crashed in Russia’s Ural Mountains injuring 1,000 people.
The meteor, also known as a “shooting star,” had such a massive sonic boom that it caused shock waves that smashed windows, caused alarms to go off and damaged about 3,000 buildings.
The Russian Academy of Sciences reported that the meteor weighed about 10 tons and was moving faster than the speed of light at about 33,000 mph (roughly 9 to 12 miles per second).
The Associated Press reports that a U.S. scientist said that the explosion may have been caused by the pressure of its own weight and speed.
This is not the first time a meteor has fallen in Russia. In Siberia on June 30, 1908, a meteor fell and leveled nearly 1,000 square miles of force. The event was coined Tunguska.
Additional resources:
- Stunning amateur videos of the Russian meteor explosion http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/02/15/stunning-amateur-videos-of-the-russian-meteorite-explosion/
- Nearly 1,000 injured as meteor falls in Russia, Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/15/injuries-reported-after-meteorite-falls-in-russia-ural-mountains/
- Interfax says nearly 1,000 people injured by falling meteor in Russia, according to officials, Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/interfax-says-nearly-1000-people-injured-by-falling-meteor-in-russia-according-to-officials/2013/02/15/f769aeee-777d-11e2-b102-948929030e64_story.html
- Meteor falls in russia, nearly 1,000 injured, Mercury News http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_22597495/meteor-falls-russia-nearly-1-000-injured-by
- Russian Academy of Sciences http://www.ras.ru/en/index.aspx
- The Tungska region event, History Channel via YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiXpp-i442s
- The Tunguska Event – A Huge and Mysterious Explosion in Siberia in 1908 http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/Tunguska.htm
- BREAKING: Huge Metwor Blazes Across Sky Over Russia; Sonic boom Shatters Windows [UPDATED], Slate http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/15/breaking_huge_meteor...
- Tunguska, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska
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