10 amazing facts about meteorites

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

On November 30, 1954, a meteorite broke through the roof of the house of American Ann Hodgesi and inflicted bruises on her shoulder and thigh. The woman's health was not a cause for concern, but she spent several days in the hospital. Today Ann is the only person to be hit by a meteorite, although about 4 billion of these celestial bodies fall to the Earth every day.

Throughout the history of observations, scientists have counted 24 thousand fallen meteorites, 34 of which, according to astronomers, are of Martian origin. Astronomers have calculated that the probability that a meteorite will hit a person is 1 chance in 180 years.

The longest meteor shower lasted 10 hours

On the night of November 13, 1833, the longest meteor shower in the history of planet Earth took place in the eastern United States, which lasted for 10 hours. The meteor shower occurred during the most powerful meteor shower, which is called the Leonids today. In total, about 240 thousand meteorites of various sizes fell to the ground that night. A similar phenomenon can be observed annually in mid-November, of course, on a more modest scale.

The largest meteorite that fell to Earth is 80 thousand years old

The largest meteorite fell to Earth in prehistoric times. He was found in 1920 in Namibia at Hoba West Farm, located near the town of Grootfontein, by the farmer Jacobus. The Goba meteorite was excavated and left where it was found. The weight of this iron giant is 66 tons with a volume of 9 cubic meters. and dimensions 2, 7 by 2, 7 meters. Today, the Goba meteorite is the largest naturally occurring iron lump. True, since the time the meteorite was found, it "lost" by 6 tons, and all because of erosion and vandalism.

The most poisonous meteorite fell in Peru

A meteorite that fell on September 15, 2007 near Lake Titicaca in Peru made a lot of noise. Eyewitnesses first heard a noise resembling the sound of a falling plane, and then they saw a fiery body engulfed in fire. At the place where the meteorite fell, a crater 6 meters deep and 30 meters in diameter was formed, and a fountain of boiling water began to flow from the crater. Apparently, the meteorite contained some poisonous substances, since 1,500 local residents seriously worsened their health, and severe headaches began.

Chelyabinsk bolide: the most powerful explosion of a cosmic body since the Tunguska meteorite

On February 15, 2013, a meteorite exploded over Chelyabinsk, the energy of which is estimated by scientists at 500 kilotons of TNT, which is more than 100 times larger than the Sutters Mill meteorite that exploded in 2012 in the United States. The diameter of the meteorite before the explosion was, according to scientists, 18–20 meters, and its weight was 13 thousand tons. The largest fragment of a celestial body weighing 600 kg was lifted from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul.

Scientists suggest that the Chelyabinsk meteorite is part of a larger asteroid, from which it separated 1, 2 million years ago.

The scale of the damage is impressive. In Chelyabinsk alone, windows were shattered in 4, 1 thousand houses, and 1, 2 thousand people applied for medical assistance. In nearby villages, suspended ceilings collapsed, window frames were squeezed out, cracks appeared in the walls, power supply stopped, gas and mobile communications were interrupted.

The diameter of the largest meteorite crater on Earth is about 300 km

The impact crater Vredefort in Johannesburg (South Africa) with a diameter of about 300 km is considered today the largest crater on Earth formed from a meteorite fall. It occupies 6% of South Africa. Its age is estimated at 1.9 billion years. Currently, there are 3 cities and a lake in the center of the crater.

The largest meteorite crater on the territory of Russia is the Kara crater, which is 120 km in diameter, located on the shore of the Baydaratskaya Bay on the Yugorsky Peninsula.

The largest collection of meteorites is located in Russia

The largest collection of meteorites is in the Mining Museum of St. Petersburg - 300 celestial bodies. The largest specimen on display is a 450kg meteorite. To be precise, this is part of the giant Sikhote-Alin meteorite, which on February 12, 1947, crumbled into pieces over the Ussuri taiga.

The decree on the "search for heavenly bodies" was issued at one time by Empress Catherine II. The first exhibit was the Pallas Iron meteorite, which was discovered by Academician PS Pallas in the village of Medvedkovo, Krasnoyarsk Territory, in one of the Great Siberian Expeditions. It is known that this meteorite was found in 1749 by the blacksmith Yakov Medvedev, who used its pieces to make various products. The lump, which weighed 687 kg, reached St. Petersburg from Siberia 10 years later. Later, the meteorite was cut into 2 parts, which are exhibited today in the museum.

The owner of the world's largest private collection of meteorites is Robert Haag from the USA. He has been collecting heavenly stones since he was 12. Today his collection contains 2 tons of meteorites.

The most expensive meteorite went under the hammer for 330 thousand dollars

Today meteorites can be bought in the United States at various auctions, as well as over the Internet. The cost of 1 gram ranges from $ 1 to $ 1000. At the same time, Martian meteorites are much more valuable from collectors.

Today, collecting meteorites has become fashionable and profitable, according to experts from the largest auction houses. Interest in meteorites was fueled in 1996 when NASA experts reported that the 4.5 billion-year-old Hellen Hills 84001 meteorite found in Antarctica had found the remains of microorganisms that once lived on Mars.

The most expensive meteorite sold at auction today is the Dar al Ghani 1058 meteorite fragment, sold in the US for $ 330,000. The weight of this space visitor is 2 kg, and its distinctive feature is its flat shape. The meteorite was discovered in Libya in 1998. Dar al Ghani 1058 became not only the most expensive meteorite, but also the largest that ever went under the hammer.

A fragment of the Seimchan meteorite, which was found in the 1960s in Siberia, was sold for $ 44,000, which turned out to be 12 times higher than the original cost of the lot.

A meteorite that fell on a cow in 1972 was sold for $ 1, 3 thousand.

Egyptian pharaohs wore meteorite jewelry

Scientists who study Ancient Egypt have proven that the jewelry of the pharaohs of this period is of extraterrestrial origin. Recently, 9 metal beads were found near the city of Al-Girza, which were attributed to the Gerzei culture (IV century BC). British scientists examined jewelry with a tomograph and stated that the iron jewelry was made from a meteorite. Scientists came to such conclusions, since up to 30% nickel was found in the composition of jewelry, and their age is more than 5 thousand years. Interestingly, the first data on the production of iron in this region date back only to the 7th century. BC. The metal is characterized by the Widmanstätten structure - this is the name of the pattern of large crystals that appear inside the meteorite during slow cooling.

Controversy rages around Buddhist artifact from Ching meteorite

In 2009, a 10-kilogram sculpture "Iron Man" was sold at one of the auctions - a statue of the Buddhist god Vaisravana, belonging to the pre-Buddhist tradition of Bon of the XII century. The statue was first discovered in 1938 by a Nazi expedition led by Ernst Schaefer. Before being sold at auction, the artifact was kept in a private collection. The results of geochemical analyzes showed that the statue was carved from ataxite, a very rare class of meteorites characterized by a high nickel content. The auction claimed that the ancient statue was carved from part of the Ching meteorite, which fell about 15 thousand years ago somewhere between Mongolia and Siberia.

Achim Bayer, a specialist in Buddhism from Germany, expressed doubts about the origin of the sculpture. Without denying the extraterrestrial origin of the material, the scientist claims that "Iron Man" is a fake of the 20th century, and not an ancient artifact. Bayer points to the typical “pseudo-Tibetan features” of the sculpture: the object is “dressed” not in boots, but in European low shoes, wearing not traditional Buddhist attire, but trousers, a large beard, which Tibetan and Mongolian sacred sculptures never had, and a headdress and does look like a Roman helmet.

Bayer suspects that the sculpture was made in Europe between 1910 and 1970 specifically for sale at an auction of antiquities, and the story of Schaefer's expedition was invented by the seller to raise the price.

The meteorite crushed the Pope according to the idea of the Italian sculptor

The Italian Maurizio Cattelano, who is called a provocateur in art, used the image of a meteorite to demonstrate the deconstruction of such binary oppositions as eternal-momentary, divine-human, sacred-profane, nature-civilization. He embodied his idea in the sculpture "Ninth Hour", which was sold at Christie's for $ 886 thousand.

The sculpture depicts John Paul II, who was crushed by a meteorite. Cattelan assures that he did not want to say anything offensive, but only reminded that "that any government has an expiration date, like milk."

You can read about the most beautiful meteorite that fell to Earth, which is the Fukan meteorite. here.