Our planet is subjected to real space bombing every day. Hundreds of small and not so meteorites attack the Earth, fortunately, burning up in the atmosphere. Only a few manage to reach the surface while maintaining a significant size.
Today we propose to consider Top 10 largest meteorites that have fallen to Earth since the beginning of the 20th century... We did not include in the top ten huge cosmic bodies that left scars on the face of the planet millions of years ago.
Today, at the site of the fall of those meteors, there are craters, often turned into lakes, for example, Lake Mistastin in Canada and the 45-kilometer Karakul Lake in Tajikistan.
10. Sutter Mill meteorite, April 22, 2012
The meteorite flew in the sky over the United States and exploded directly over Washington. The explosion power was about 4 kilotons in TNT equivalent. Enthusiasts found many fragments of various sizes not only in Washington, but also in the states of Nevada and California.
9.Meteorite that fell in China on February 11, 2012
On the night of February 11, the sky over China was colored with hundreds of meteor shower lights. Space bodies covered an area of 100 square kilometers. The largest meteorite found weighed 12.6 kg.
8. Peruvian meteorite, September 15, 2007
This meteorite fell in broad daylight near Lake Titicaca. A crater 6 meters deep and 30 meters in diameter formed at the site of the fall. Soon after the fall, more than 1,500 people reported experiencing severe headaches.
7. Meteorite Kunya-Urgench, Turkmenistan, June 20, 1998
A huge meteorite fell at night near the city of Kunya-Urgench. The largest fragment weighed 820 kg, and scientists have determined its age at around 4 billion years.
6. Sterlitamak meteorite, May 17, 1990
A large meteorite weighing 315 kg left a crater with a diameter of more than 10 meters at the crash site. The space guest was placed in the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of the Ufa Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where everyone can admire him.
5. Jilin Meteorite. China, Mar 8, 1976
One of the largest meteorites found fell to Earth during a powerful meteor shower. Its weight was 1.7 tons. Simultaneously with this giant, thousands of smaller cosmic bodies burned up in the sky for 37 minutes.
4. Sikhote-Alin meteorite, Russia, Far East, February 12, 1947
This huge meteorite exploded in the atmosphere, and its debris formed more than 30 craters on the Earth's surface from 7 to 28 m to 6 meters deep. Scientists have collected about 27 tons of debris of various sizes, which makes it possible to judge the significant size of the meteorite.
3. Goba meteorite, Namibia, 1920
This meteorite arrived on earth about 20 thousand years ago, but was found only in 1920. The stone weighs more than 60 tons. Moreover, scientists say that during the time that has passed since its fall, the meteorite "lost weight" due to erosion and the actions of vandals.
2. Chelyabinsk meteorite, February 15, 2013
This meteorite, of course, is not the largest, but one of the most famous. Space bodies rarely fall in the area of large settlements, as happened in Chelyabinsk.Before the explosion, the meteorite weighed about 10 thousand tons and had a diameter of 17 meters. According to NASA estimates, this particular meteorite is the largest since the time of the legendary Tunguska.
1. Tunguska meteorite, June 30, 1908
Scientists do not know the mass of the most famous meteorite, naming only its limits - from 100 thousand to 1 million tons. The blast wave from the meteorite that exploded over the taiga circled the globe twice. As a result, trees were felled on an area of over 2 thousand square meters. km, and glass flew out in houses a hundred kilometers from the explosion. The glow in the sky over the taiga lasted for several days.
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