Chelyabinsk meteorite Chondrite Meteorite - Width: 3 cm - 14 g - (1)

Nice piece of the Chelyabinsk meteorite, and now we’re at its anniversary, since it fell on February 15, 2013.

An asteroid about 20 meters wide entered Earth's atmosphere over Russia at a speed of nearly 19 kilometers per second.
Unlike other space objects, this one was not detected in advance because it was coming from the direction of the Sun.

It disintegrated at an altitude of about 30 km, releasing energy equivalent to about 500 kilotons of TNT (roughly 30 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb).

The shock wave shattered windows in thousands of buildings across six different cities. About 1,500 people were injured, mainly from cuts caused by glass that flew through the air when people leaned out of their windows to see what that very bright flash was.

The discovery was at Lake Chebarkul.
Most of the meteorite turned to dust, and many fragments like the one we have here, but a giant fragment of about 600 kg managed to survive and fell into the frozen Chebarkul Lake, leaving a seven-meter hole in the ice. Months later, scientists managed to recover it from the bottom.

Why was it so important for science?
Chelyabinsk was a 'wake-up call'. Thanks to thousands of videos recorded by security cameras and dashcams (very common in Russia), scientists were able to reconstruct its trajectory with unprecedented precision.
This spurred the creation of better planetary defense systems to monitor Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

I am passionate about meteorites and astronomy. I’m excited to offer this piece.
Best regards and thanks.