Space & Astronomy

Meteor explodes over Russia

By T.K. Randall
February 15, 2013 ·  291 comments

Image Credit: Youtube / Russia Today The destructive event caused widespread panic as people were thrown to the ground by the explosion and shards of broken glass fell all around. The Russian armed forces were put on high alert after reports streamed in, witnesses say the meteor blazed across the sky before bursting in to a bright flash of light accompanied by a deafening sonic boom. At least 67 children are thought to be among the injured.

"Everything went very bright," said one student from a school in Chelyabinsk. "There was a very loud sound like the roar of an aeroplane, then an explosion and glass rained down." Despite the incident occurring just hours before asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to pass close to the Earth, experts at the European Space Agency have maintained that there is no connection between the two events.[!gad]The destructive event caused widespread panic as people were thrown to the ground by the explosion and shards of broken glass fell all around. The Russian armed forces were put on high alert after reports streamed in, witnesses say the meteor blazed across the sky before bursting in to a bright flash of light accompanied by a deafening sonic boom. At least 67 children are thought to be among the injured.

"Everything went very bright," said one student from a school in Chelyabinsk. "There was a very loud sound like the roar of an aeroplane, then an explosion and glass rained down." Despite the incident occurring just hours before asteroid 2012 DA14 was expected to pass close to the Earth, experts at the European Space Agency have maintained that there is no connection between the two events.


Source: Independent | Comments (291)

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