From ancient times, fiery stones falling from the sky caused people to tremble. The people attached a mystical meaning to the natural phenomenon, linking the rockfall with divine signs.
At present, despite the clue to the nature of the meteor shower, people continue to be surprised and afraid of such natural phenomena. Believers say that this is a punishment for the sins of people. Scientists explain that meteor showers are a simple, albeit rare, occurrence on Earth. The fact is that on other planets of the solar system, meteorites fall to the surface much more often. Why? Let's find out.
Meteor shower. What is it
In short, it is a stream of stones falling to the ground from the sky. The formation and description of a meteor shower boils down to the following: an asteroid enters the upper atmosphere and begins to be attracted by the Earth. When it reaches the denser shell of the atmosphere, it breaks up into many small pieces. Now a stream of stones is flying to the surface of the Earth, which can be mineral ormetallic composition. The car is divided into parts, because it itself consists of many small pieces. This is the natural structure of the matter of many meteorites. Parts of meteorites range in size from a few micrometers to several centimeters. In these stones, between dense formations, looser mineral layers lie.
During the entire flight, the bolide experiences tremendous friction against the Earth's atmosphere. It heats up so much that it starts to burn in the air currents. The glow of a large fireball can be brighter than sunlight reaching the Earth. This changes the outer surface of the falling body. It forms a pattern of those air flows that passed through the car. A huge mass of matter burns in the air layers: up to tens of tons. So very little of what gets into the atmosphere reaches the earth.
Earth's protective shell
Our atmosphere protects the planet quite well from falling bodies. A very small number of fireballs that invade the atmosphere reach the surface of the Earth. Other planets have no atmosphere. This explains why they are much more often "watered" by stone rain.
The work of scientists
What flies, leaves craters in the earth's crust, which are carefully studied by scientists around the world. Craters always contain a large number of meteorite fragments. The found pieces are examined for the chemical composition, the structure of the meteorite is analyzed, its possible origin is assumed. Meteorites are highly valued among the scientific community. The fact is that a meteor shower is pieces of earth that have fallen on Earth.space, which is fraught with many more mysteries. It is much easier to collect pieces that have flown to us themselves than to fly people into space for material for research.
Tsarevskiy meteorite
In 1922, a meteor shower with a total weight of more than a ton hit the territory of the modern Volgograd region. Witnesses said that the car made a loud rumble in flight, and then an explosion occurred (the meteorite was shattered into pieces). At that time, the finds of cosmic bodies were also valued. However, the researchers failed to find the meteorite for a long time. The Tsarevsky meteorite was discovered by chance only in 1968 during earthworks.
Sikhote-Alin meteorite
In 1947, a very large fireball broke into the Earth's atmosphere. According to scientists, he weighed 1500 - 2000 tons. In the dense layers of the atmosphere, the stone block broke up into thousands of pieces. About 60 - 100 tons of cosmic matter fell on the earth. The shock wave shattered windows and blew roofs off. A meteor shower showered the Ussuri taiga over several square kilometers. Huge funnels formed. The photo of the meteor shower fails to capture. The picture shows only craters that have survived to this day.
The largest funnel had a diameter of 28 meters. The maximum depth is 6 meters. Of course, the forest has suffered significant devastation. Trees were uprooted that day.
Meteor shower caused the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, as scientists later called it. He was one of the manyasteroids orbiting the sun.
Chemical composition
Iron is the main chemical element of the meteorite (94%). It also contains nickel, cob alt, sulfur, phosphorus and many other elements in small quantities. This "messenger of heaven" also contains precious metals.
In addition to iron meteorites, there are also stone fireballs.
Allende
In 1969, a carbonaceous meteorite fell into Mexico. It is the largest rock from the sky to have this chemical composition.
This find is valued by the fact that it is the most ancient body of the objects that people have. The age of meteorite fragments, which are currently scattered in various museums around the world, is more than 4.5 billion years. Scientists have discovered a new mineral pangit in Allende, which, apparently, does not exist on our planet.
Meteor shower is a bright and spectacular natural phenomenon. It always attracts the attention of local residents, as well as scientists and lovers of the mysteries of space. As it turned out, the composition of asteroids differs markedly from the composition of the planet Earth. Huge chunks of pure iron and new minerals are being explored with great care.
