Russian meteorite fragment sent for testing

RT is reporting that a fragment of the meteorite that fell in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region in the Urals a week ago was delivered on Friday to Moscow’s Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry. 

The stone will be researched, and an application to include it into an international catalogue will be prepared. The main part of the meteorite fell on February 15 into Chebarkul Lake, and fragments were found nearby. Scientists confirmed their extra-terrestrial origin.

According to Chemical and Engineering News, the meteor that exploded over the Che­lyabinsk region of Russia on Feb. 15 was an ordinary chondrite, with a stony composition common to most of the meteorites that land on Earth, according to an initial chemical analysis by Russian scientists.

Viktor Grokhovsky, a professor at Ural Federal University and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Meteorites, led an expedition to retrieve remnants of the meteor that survived the plunge through Earth’s atmosphere. Grokhovsky says that the fragments his group analyzed at the university contain magnesium-rich chrysolite and sulfite, and are about 10% iron/nickel alloy. His group plans further analyses to fully characterize the meteorites.

The 10,000-ton meteor was 55 feet across and is the largest reported since the 1908 Tunguska meteor strike in Siberia. The recent meteor’s fall to Earth was captured by numerous car dashboard video cameras. Broken windows and debris from its plunge to Earth injured about 1,000 people.

Read more about the meteorite and view videos