Current Events Class OpenerScience in the News

Meteor Explodes over Russiaby Mr. Marty, Physics teacher NIS, Taldykorgan, Kazakhstan

Do you know the difference between ?

•Meteoroid

•Meteor

•Meteorite

Meteoroid: a small sized asteroid, rock or particle of space debris orbiting the sun.

Meteor: a “shooting star”, caused by the burning of a piece of space debris that enters Earth’s atmosphere.

Meteorite: a rock from a meteor that survived after burning when it came through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Therefore, one rock from space could be all three things, at different times.

•Meteoroid

•Meteor

•Meteorite

Friday 15 February 2013: Meteor explodesover the Ural Mountains of Russia and

injures more than 1000.

Bolide: an exploding fireball caused by unequal pressures in a burning meteor.

The explosion of the meteor in Russia:• Occurred at about 9:20 am on Friday 15 February 2013

• Was near the Ural Mountains and the city of Chelyabinsk

• The explosion, equal to a 490 kiloton bomb, caused shockwaves that shattered windows

• Most injuries were caused by breaking glass

Facts about the Meteor• Meteoroid was about 17 meters across

• Meteor traveled at more than 64,000 km/h

• Bolide was briefly brighter than the sun

Meteorite Remains

• Many meteorites landed in 3 regions of Russia and some in one region of Kazakhstan

• One large meteorite burned a hole in an ice coved lake, 80 Km from city of Chelyabinsk

References for Meteor Explodes Over Russia

• Russian Meteor Blast Bigger Than Thought, NASA Says. URL: http://news.yahoo.com/russian-meteor-blast-bigger-thought-nasa-says-234920189.html (17 Feb 2013)

• From Our Vault: 1897 Meteorite Recovery. URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/pictures/130215-meteorite-earth-hit-science-space-peary-american-museum-natural-history/#/meteorite-recovered-greenland-island-1890s-on-ship_64346_600x450.jpg (17 February 2013)

• Bolide, b-o-l-i-d-e, bolide-our-terms. URL: http://www.iheartmonster.com/2010/02/bolide-b-o-l-i-d-e-bolide-our-terms.html(17 February 2013)

• Learn about meteorites. Meteorite hunting, photographs and information. URL: http://meteorite.org/ (17 February 2013)

• Meteoroids. URL: http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/meteoroids.html (17 February 2013)

• Meteorite hits Russia. URL: http://gma.yahoo.com/photos/meteorite-hits-russia-1360937923-slideshow/ (17 February 2013)

• Huge Russian Meteor Blast is Biggest Since 1908. URL: http://www.space.com/19829-russian-fireball-meteor-blast-infographic.html (18 February 2013)