A space rock a few metres across exploded in Earth’s atmosphere above the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia today at about 03:15 GMT. The numerous injuries and significant damage remind us that what happens in space can affect us all. At least 950 people were injured as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings. Most of those hurt, in the Chelyabinsk region where the meteor fell, suffered cuts and bruises but at least 46 remain in hospital.
Thousands of rescue workers have been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured, the emergencies ministry said.
The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500km (930 miles) east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.
Meteorite explosions in the skies of Russia’s Urals region has sparked panic in three major cities. Witnesses said that houses shuddered, windows were blown out and cellphones stopped working.
In this type of event, if the explosion altitude is less than 10 km or so, the resulting shockwave can cause damage on the ground, such as shattering windows. Debris from the object may be found later. The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 km/h (33,000mph).
Small Asteroid
“Current information, which is not yet complete nor confirmed, points to a small asteroid,” said Detlef Koschny, Head of Near-Earth Object activity at ESA’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme office.
“There is no way it could have been predicted with the technical means available today. What can be said with near certainty is that this object has no connection with asteroid 2012 DA14.”
A large meteor fragment is believed to have landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in Chelyabinsk region. A Russian army spokesman said a crater 6m (20ft) wide had been found on the shore of the lake. Debris also reportedly fell on the west Siberian region of Tyumen.
“It was quite extraordinary,” Chelyabinsk resident Polina Zolotarevskaya told BBC News. “We saw a very bright light and then there was a kind of a track, white and yellow in the sky.”
“The explosion was so strong that some windows in our building and in the buildings that are across the road and in the city in general, the windows broke.”
Chelyabinsk resident Sergei Serskov told BBC News the city had felt like a “war zone” for 20 to 30 minutes.
“I was in the office when suddenly I saw a really bright flash in the window in front of me,” he said.
“Then I smelt fumes. I looked out the window and saw a huge line of smoke, like you get from a plane but many times bigger.”
“A few minutes later the window suddenly came open and there was a huge explosion, followed by lots of little explosions.”
An image from the SEVIRI instrument aboard Eumetsat’s Meteosat-10 geostationary satellite. The vapour trail visible in the centre of the image was left by an asteroid that struck Earth near Chelyabinsk, Russia, 15 February 2013, around 03:15 UT. Initial media reports included accounts of injuries and property loss. This image uses data from the High Resolution Visible (HRV) channel of SEVIRI that can produce images with both high spatial and temporal resolution.
While precise information on the size, mass and composition of the object are yet to be confirmed, videos show a fireball and explosion consistent with an asteroid up to a few metres in size exploding in the atmosphere, possibly several to ten kilometres above the surface. Image credit:Eumetsat
In an unrelated incident, Asteroid 2012 DA14 made a close flyby of Earth at 19:27 GMT (20:27 CET) today.
Finding objects that pass close to our planet and are large enough to do damage if they enter our atmosphere is a major goal of ESA’s SSA programme.
In addition to conducting its own sky searches using ESA’s Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain, SSA is partnering with existing European and international asteroid survey activities.
Continuous Efforts To Identify NEOs
It also sponsors astronomer groups in Europe, supporting surveys carried out with their own equipment or allocating observation time on its Tenerife telescope. The office also provides access to orbit predictions, close flyby details and related data via its technical website at http://neo.ssa.esa.int
“Today’s event is a strong reminder of why we need continuous efforts to survey and identify near-Earth objects,” said Thomas Reiter, ESA’s Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.
“Our SSA programme is developing a system of automated optical telescopes that can detect asteroids and other objects in solar orbits.”
To achieve this, ESA, European industry and partner agencies are developing a system of automated 1 m-diameter telescopes capable of imaging the complete sky in one night.
In addition to Russian media, who reported immediately, all media worldwide have published images of notable damage around Chelyabinsk, and reports also mention numerous casualties.
“Our most sincere sympathies are with those suffering injury and property loss due to this event in Russia,” added Thomas Reiter.
Filed under: Asteroids & NEOs • Meteors & Meteorites
