A recent meteorite crash in the Urals mountains of central Russia is suspected to be related to the asteroid 2012DA14 passing by earth.



Meteorites are natural objects that originated in outer space, passed through the earth’s atmosphere and crashed into the ground. When it was in space, it was called a meteoroid. When it entered the atmosphere, the impact pressure heated it up and emitted light, forming a fireball known as a meteor. The meteorite crash immediately brought to mind the famous Tunguska Explosion.

On the morning of June 30, 1908, more than 100 years ago, in the Tunguska river valley in Siberia, a bright ball of fire appeared in the distance above the horizon. The ground shook. Then a huge explosion flattened nearly 2,150 square kilometers of pine forest.



The power of this explosion is e*quivalent to 1,000 atomic bombs, and the area of ​​the destroyed pine forest is e*quivalent to the size of Tokyo. Fortunately, the area is uninhabited and witnesses are few, so there are no casualties (one is said to have died).

It was not until 1927 that the “truth” of the Tunguska affair became known. An expedition led by Soviet scientists found that all the trees had fallen radially toward the center of the explosion, but no giant crater was visible from the center.

The culprit is believed to be an extraterrestrial object (comet or asteroid) that exploded over the area, completely disintegrating and vaporizing, thus creating no crater. A follow-up investigation found that a number of tiny particles of glass left behind, including iridium and nickel, were rich in meteorites that suggested it had indeed come from space.



The leading explanation: a massive meteoroid or comet exploded as it entered the atmosphere. But no meteorite fragments or impact craters have been found, leaving scientists confused about what caused the so-called Tunguska event.

Many UFO fans believe the explosion was caused by a nuclear explosion or disintegration of an alien spacecraft. One episode of the classic American TV series the x-files was about the Tunguska incident.

But foreign media reported that Andrei E. Zlobin, a researcher at the Russian academy of sciences, recently claimed he had found meteorite fragments from the Tunguska event.



Zlobin said the rocks he collected showed clear signs of melting, a feature of the heat created when they entered earth’s atmosphere at high speeds. According to his calculations, the Tunguska explosion did not release enough heat to melt the earth’s surface rocks, so the pieces of meteorite he collected must have formed inside the fireball.

The discovery needs further confirmation by chemical analysis, as it still has some unexplained problems. If further confirmed, the meteorites could help scientists finally determine what caused the Tunguska event.