From time to time various space bodies fall on our Earth. They are large and small, inconspicuous and intimidating, iron and silicate, the most diverse. The scientific name for a shooting star is a meteorite. This definition applies to bodies larger than 10 µm. Smaller space guests are called micrometeorites.
What are meteorites
Almost 93% of meteorites are stone. Among them, there are chondrites consisting of silicate spheres (ordinary, carbonaceous and enstatin), and achondrites that have undergone melting and the accompanying differentiation in composition into silicates and metals. The rest of the bodies are divided into iron-stony (pallasite and mesosiderite) and pure iron.
It is important to note that a meteorite is not a meteor. These terms mean different things. A meteorite is a body itself, and a meteor is a fiery trail formed in the atmosphere during its fall. It is he who is mistaken for a “shooting star”, on which romantically inclined personalities make wishes.
Meteorite sizes
Meteorites can vary in size. Some of them are as small as a grain of sand, others reach tens of tons. Representatives of the scientific world claim that during the year 21 tons of extraterrestrial bodies fall on our planet, while representatives of the flow can weigh from a few grams to 1000 kilograms.
The largest meteorites in the history of the Earth
Sutter Mill fell to Earth on April 22, 2012. His path ran over Nevada and California, and the speed exceeded 29 kilometers per second. Over these states, parts of various sizes broke off from the meteorite, while the main part reached Washington and exploded right above it. The force of the explosion was equal to 4,000 tons of TNT. Scientists know the age of the heavenly wanderer - more than 4500 million years.
In Peru, not far from Lake Titicaca and near the Bolivian border, on September 15, 2007, a space body fell, fragments of which were not found. Only a pit 6 meters deep and 30 meters in diameter, filled with muddy water, testifies to what happened. At the time of the incident, according to local residents, the water boiled like a fountain. There is a version that the meteorite contained toxic substances, since after its fall, eyewitnesses began to experience severe migraines.
In June 1998, on the 20th, near the Turkmen city of Kunya-Urgench, a space guest weighing 820 kg landed in a cotton field. The diameter of the funnel was about 5 meters. The International Meteor Society has calculated the age of the body - more than 4 billion years - andrecognized it as the largest of all that fell in the CIS, and the third largest in the world.
On a May night in 1990, from the 17th to the 18th, a 315-kilogram meteorite fell twenty kilometers from Sterlitamak. This event took place on a state farm field, in the soil of which a 10-meter crater formed. At the same time, the cosmic body itself was immersed into the depths of the earth by 12 m.
The Namibian meteorite is considered the largest found. This iron miracle bears the name of Goba and has a volume of 9 cubic meters and a weight of 66 tons. Its fall occurred 80,000 years ago, but this ingot was discovered only in 1920. It is now a local landmark.
