Space bodies are constantly falling on our planet. Some of them are the size of a grain of sand, others can weigh several hundred kilograms and even tons. Canadian scientists from the Ottawa Astrophysical Institute claim that in a year meteor shower with a total mass of more than 21 tons, and individual meteorites weigh from a few grams to 1 ton.

In this article, we will recall the 10 largest meteorites that fell to Earth.

Meteorite Sutter Mill, April 22, 2012

This meteorite called Sutter Mill appeared near the Earth on April 22, 2012, moving at a breakneck speed of 29 km / s. It flew over the states of Nevada and California, scattering its red-hot fragments, and exploded over Washington. The power of the explosion was about 4 kilotons of TNT. For comparison, yesterday's capacity was 300 kilotons of TNT.

Scientists have found that the Sutter Mill meteorite appeared in the early days of its existence, and the cosmic progenitor body was formed over 4566.57 million years ago.

Almost a year ago, on February 11, 2012, about a hundred meteorite stones fell over an area of ​​100 km in one of the regions of China. The largest meteorite found weighed 12.6 kg. The meteorites are believed to have come from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Meteorite from Peru, September 15, 2007

This meteorite fell in Peru near Lake Titicaca, near the border with Bolivia. Eyewitnesses claimed that at first there was a loud noise, similar to the sound of a falling plane, but then they saw a certain falling body, engulfed in fire.

A bright trail from a cosmic body heated to white heat that entered the Earth's atmosphere is called a meteor.

A crater 30 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep formed at the site of the fall from the explosion, from which a fountain of boiling water gushed. Probably the meteorite contained toxic substances, as 1,500 people living nearby developed severe headaches.

By the way, most often stone meteorites (92.8%), consisting mainly of silicates, fall to the Earth. , was iron, according to the first estimates.

Meteorite Kunya-Urgench from Turkmenistan, June 20, 1998

The meteorite fell down Turkmen city Kunya-Urgench, hence its name. Before the fall, the inhabitants saw bright light. The largest part of the meteorite, weighing 820 kg, fell into a cotton field, forming a funnel about 5 meters.

This one, over 4 billion years old, has been certified by the International Meteoritic Society and is considered the largest among stone meteorites from all fallen in the CIS and the third in the world.

Fragment of the Turkmen meteorite:

Meteorite Sterlitamak, May 17, 1990

iron meteorite Sterlitamak weighing 315 kg fell on a state farm field 20 km west of the city of Sterlitamak on the night of May 17-18, 1990. When a meteorite fell, a crater with a diameter of 10 meters was formed.

First, small metal fragments were found, and only a year later, at a depth of 12 meters, the largest fragment weighing 315 kg was found. Now the meteorite (0.5 x 0.4 x 0.25 meters) is in the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of Ufa scientific center Russian Academy Sciences.

Fragments of a meteorite. On the left is the same fragment weighing 315 kg:

The largest meteor shower, China, March 8, 1976

In March 1976, the world's largest meteorite rock shower took place in the Chinese province of Jilin, lasting 37 minutes. Space bodies fell to the earth at a speed of 12 km/sec.

Fantasy on the theme of meteorites:

Then they found about a hundred meteorites, including the largest - the 1.7-ton Jilin (Girin) meteorite.

These are the pebbles that rained down from the sky on China for 37 minutes:

Meteorite Sikhote-Alin, Far East, February 12, 1947

The meteorite fell on Far East in the Ussuri taiga in the Sikhote-Alin mountains on February 12, 1947. It was crushed in the atmosphere and fell out in the form of iron rain over an area of ​​10 sq. km.

After the fall, more than 30 craters with a diameter of 7 to 28 m and a depth of up to 6 meters were formed. About 27 tons of meteorite material was collected.

Pieces of iron that fell from the sky during a meteor shower:

Goba meteorite, Namibia, 1920

Meet Goba - largest meteorite ever found! Strictly speaking, it fell about 80,000 years ago. This iron giant weighs about 66 tons and has a volume of 9 cubic meters. fell in prehistoric times, and was found in Namibia in 1920 near Grotfontein.

The Goba meteorite is mainly composed of iron and is considered the heaviest of all celestial bodies of this kind that have ever appeared on Earth. It is preserved at the crash site in southwestern Africa, in Namibia, near the Goba West farm. It is also the largest piece of iron of natural origin on Earth. Since 1920, the meteorite has decreased slightly: erosion, Scientific research and vandalism did their job: the meteorite "lost weight" to 60 tons.

The mystery of the Tunguska meteorite, 1908

On June 30, 1908, at about 07:00 in the morning, a large fireball flew over the territory of the Yenisei basin from the southeast to the northwest. The flight ended with an explosion at an altitude of 7-10 km above the uninhabited area of ​​the taiga. The blast wave circled the globe twice and was recorded by observatories around the world.

The power of the explosion is estimated at 40-50 megatons, which corresponds to the energy of the most powerful hydrogen bomb. The flight speed of the space giant was tens of kilometers per second. Weight - from 100 thousand to 1 million tons!

Area of ​​the Podkamennaya Tunguska River:

As a result of the explosion, trees were knocked down over an area of ​​​​more than 2,000 square meters. km, window panes in houses were broken several hundred kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion. Animals were destroyed by the blast wave within a radius of about 40 km, people were injured. For several days, an intense glow of the sky and luminous clouds were observed in the territory from the Atlantic to central Siberia:

But what was it? If it was a meteorite, then a huge crater half a kilometer deep should have appeared at the site of its fall. But none of the expeditions could find him ...

Tunguska meteorite belongs, on the one hand, to the number of the most well-studied phenomena, on the other hand, to one of the most mysterious phenomena the past century. The celestial body exploded in the air, and no remnants of it, except for the consequences of the explosion, were found on the ground.

Meteor shower of 1833

On the night of November 13, 1833, a meteor shower fell over the eastern United States. It went on continuously for 10 hours! During this time, about 240,000 meteorites of various sizes fell to the Earth's surface. The most powerful meteor shower known was the source of the 1833 meteor shower. meteor showers. Now this stream is called the Leonids in honor of the constellation Leo, against which it is visible every year in mid-November. On a much smaller scale, of course.

Astrophysicists from Canada claim that the mass of the meteorite stream bombarding our long-suffering planet exceeds 21 tons per year. But in most cases, this goes unnoticed, since a person can observe and find meteorites only in the habitable zone.

The share of land on the Earth's surface is only 29%, the rest of the planet is occupied by the oceans. But even from these 29%, it is necessary to take away places that are not inhabited by humans or are completely unsuitable for habitation. Therefore, finding a meteorite is a great success. However, there was a case when a meteorite itself found a person.

The case of a meteorite collision with a person

In the entire history of the fall of celestial bodies to Earth, only one officially documented case of direct contact of a meteorite with a person is known.

It happened in the USA on November 30, 1954. A four-kilogram meteorite, breaking through the roof of the house, injured the owner's leg. This means that there is still a risk that a more serious guest from outer space may fall on people's heads. I wonder what is the largest meteorite that fell on our planet?

Meteorites are divided into three categories: stony, stony-iron and iron. And each of these categories has its giants.

The largest stone meteorite

Relatively recently, on March 8, 1976, the cosmos presented the Chinese with a gift in the form of stones falling to the surface of the earth for 37 minutes. One of the fallen copies had a weight of 1.77 tons. It was the largest meteorite that fell to earth, having the structure of a stone. The incident occurred near the Chinese province of Jilin. The same name was given to the space guest.

Until now, the Jilin meteorite remains the largest stone meteorite discovered on earth.

The largest iron meteorite

The largest representative of the category of iron-stony meteorites weighed 1.5 tons. Found it in 1805 in Germany.

A colleague of the German meteorite, found in Australia, weighed only 100 kg less than the German one.

But everyone was surpassed by an iron guest from outer space, whose weight was ten times greater than all previously found meteorites.

The largest iron meteorite

In 1920, an iron meteorite with a diameter of 2.7 meters and weighing over 66 tons was discovered in the southwest of Namibia! Larger than this specimen on our planet has not yet been found. It turned out to be the largest meteorite that fell to Earth. The name was given to him in honor of the Goba West farm, whose owner stumbled upon him while cultivating the field. The approximate age of the iron block is 80 thousand years.

Today it is the largest solid block of natural iron.

In 1955, the largest meteorite that fell to earth, Goba, was declared a national monument and taken under state protection. This was a forced measure, since in 35 years, while the meteorite was in the public domain, it lost 6 tons in mass. Part of the weight was lost as a result of natural processes - erosion. But the main contribution to the process of "weight loss" was made by numerous tourists. Now you can approach the celestial body only under supervision and for a fee.

The meteorites discussed above are, of course, the largest of their kind ever discovered. But the question of which is the largest meteorite fell to earth remained open.

The meteorite that killed the dinosaurs

Everyone knows the sad story of the extinction of the dinosaurs. Scientists still argue about the cause of their death, but the version that the meteorite became the culprit of the tragedy remains the main one.

According to scientists, 65 million years ago, the Earth was hit by a huge meteorite that caused a catastrophe on a planetary scale. The meteorite fell on the territory that now belongs to Mexico - the Yucatan Peninsula, near the village of Chicxulub. Evidence of this fall was found in 1970 impact crater. But since the depression was filled with sedimentary rocks, they did not carefully examine the meteorite. And only 20 years later, scientists returned to its study.

As a result of the work carried out, it turned out that the funnel left by the meteorite has a diameter of 180 km. The diameter of the meteorite itself was about 10 km. The impact energy during the fall was 100,000 Gt in (this is comparable to the simultaneous explosion of 2,000,000 of the largest thermonuclear charges).

It is assumed that as a result of a meteorite impact, a tsunami was formed, the wave height varied from 50 to 100 meters. The dust particles raised by the impact closed the Earth tightly from the Sun for several years, which led to drastic change climate. and intermittent large-scale fires exacerbated the situation. An analogue has come on the planet nuclear winter. As a result of the disaster, 75% of animal and plant species died out.

Nevertheless, officially the Chicxulub meteorite is the largest meteorite that fell to earth 65 million years ago. He practically destroyed all life on the planet. But in history, in terms of its size, it occupies only the third place.

First among the giants

Presumably 2 billion years ago, a meteorite fell to the Earth, which left a trace with a diameter of 300 km on its surface. The meteorite itself supposedly had a diameter of more than 15 km.

The crater left after the fall is located in South Africa, in the Free State province, and is called Vredefort. This is the largest impact crater, and left him the largest meteorite that fell to Earth in the entire history of our planet. In 2005, the Vredefort crater was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The largest meteorite that fell to Earth did not leave a photo as a keepsake, but a huge scar in the form of a crater on the surface of our planet will not allow us to forget about it.

It has been noticed that the fall of meteorites, the size of which is measured at least tens of meters, occurs at intervals of hundreds of years. And larger meteorites fall even less frequently.

According to scientists, in 2029 a new guest wants to visit the Earth.

A meteorite named Apophis

The meteorite that threatens our planet was named Apophis (that was the name of the serpent god, who was the antipode of the sun god Ra in Ancient Egypt). Whether it will fall to the Earth or still miss and pass next to the planet is not known for certain. But what happens if a collision does occur?

The scenario of the collision of Apophis with the Earth

So, it is known that the diameter of Apophis is only 320 meters. When it falls to Earth, an explosion will occur, equal in its power to 15,000 bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

If Apophis hits the mainland, an impact crater will appear, having a depth of 400-500 meters and a diameter of up to 5 km. The resulting will destroy capital buildings at a distance of 50 km from the epicenter. Buildings that do not have the strength of a brick house will be destroyed at a distance of 100-150 km. A column of dust will rise to a height of several kilometers and then cover the entire planet.

The media stories about nuclear winter and the end of the world are overblown. The dimensions of the meteorite are too small for such consequences. It is possible to lower the temperature by 1-2 degrees, but after six months it will return to normal. That is, the predicted catastrophe, if it does happen, will be far from global.

If Apophis falls into the ocean, which is more likely, there will be a tsunami that will cover coastal areas. The height of the wave in this case will depend on the distance between the coast and the place where the meteorite fell. The initial wave can have a height of up to 500 meters, but if the fall of Apophis occurs in the center of the ocean, then the wave that reaches the coast will not exceed 10-20 meters. Although this is also quite serious. The storm will continue for several hours. All these events should be considered only as possible with some degree of probability. So will Apophis collide with our planet or not?

The probability of Apophis falling to Earth

Apophis will theoretically threaten our planet twice. The first time - in 2029, and then - in 2036. After conducting observations using radar installations, a group of scientists completely ruled out the possibility of a meteorite collision with the earth. As for the year 2036, today the chance of a meteorite colliding with the Earth is 1:250,000. And every year, as the accuracy of calculations increases, the probability of a collision decreases.

But even with this probability, various options forced deviation of Apophis from the course. Thus, Apophis is an object, rather interesting than a threat.

In conclusion, I would like to note that meteorites are strongly destroyed when they enter the earth's atmosphere. When approaching the Earth, the speed of the fall of guests from space is 10-70 km / s, and when it comes into contact with the gaseous atmosphere, which has a rather high density, the temperature of the meteorite rises to a critical one, and it simply burns out or is very much destroyed. Thus, the atmosphere of our planet is the best protector against uninvited guests.

TASS-DOSIER. On December 6, 2016, a meteorite exploded in the sky over Khakassia. Three flashes were recorded, the rumble was heard in the Abakan region.

As stated by a member of the Committee on Meteorites of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor of the Ural federal university Viktor Grokhovsky, the meteorite is several times smaller than its Chelyabinsk "brother" that fell in February 2013 into Lake Chebarkul.

Meteorites are called solid natural bodies of cosmic origin, which fall on the surface of a large celestial object, such as a planet. They can consist of minerals (stone meteorites), metals (iron) and be of a mixed type (iron-stone).

The surface of the Earth reaches 9% of the mass of all meteorites. According to a number of scientists, every year a meteorite storm with a total mass of approximately 21.3 tons falls on our planet. According to statistics, only one out of 100 thousand meteorites has destructive power. Most of the meteorites found on Earth have a mass of several grams to several kilograms.

Most often, meteorites fall in Antarctica: according to experts, about 700 thousand of them are scattered on the mainland. There is also the largest accumulation of meteorites on a limited area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe surface, discovered in 1979. The most massive meteorite - weighing more than 60 tons - was found in Namibia in 1920 g., he received the name Goba.

Cases of meteorites falling on settlements extremely rare: only a few such facts are known. At the same time, only twice falling celestial bodies injured people (1954, Alabama, USA; 2004, Great Britain).

The first reliably recorded fall of a meteorite in world history dates back to November 16, 1492. This happened near the French village of Ensisheim in the Upper Rhine region. The stone that fell from the sky weighed about 127 kg. His fall was witnessed by numerous eyewitnesses, including the famous German artist and graphic artist Albrecht Dürer. He sketched this event on a small wooden board measuring 23x17 cm.

Chronology of five known cases of the fall of large meteorites in the XX - XXI centuries

June 30, 1908 over the river basin. Podkamennaya Tunguska in Eastern Siberia meteorite fell, which later received the name "Tunguska". As a result, in the air, when a celestial body entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, an explosion occurred with a power of about 50 Mt in TNT equivalent. The shock wave devastated up to 2 thousand square meters. km. To date, more than 5 thousand fairly large fragments of the Tunguska meteorite have been found.

On February 12, 1947, a meteorite with a mass of more than 23 tons was recorded in the Primorsky Territory (one of the ten largest in the world). It was called the Sikhote-Alin by the name of the mountains, over which the meteorite fell like iron rain over an area of ​​35 square meters. km.

On March 8, 1976, a meteorite weighing over 4 tons fell in northeast China. It was named Kirin.

On February 8, 1969, the Allende meteorite fell in northern Mexico. As it fell, it shattered into many pieces. Collected about 2-3 tons of fragments. Allende is considered the largest carbonaceous meteorite found on Earth.

February 15, 2013 near Lake Chebarkul Chelyabinsk region a meteorite fell, officially named "Chelyabinsk" (also known as "Chebarkulsky"). The meteor shower was observed by residents of five regions of Russia at once - Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan regions and Bashkiria. Most of the fragments fell into the lake. In October 2013, fragments with a total weight of 654 kg were raised from Chebarkul, in March 2014, the largest fragment weighing several tons was found at the bottom of the lake.

Asteroids, which in the future may approach the Earth at a distance equal to 7.5 million km, are considered potentially dangerous for the Earth. Our planet has more than once collided with these cosmic bodies. Today we will talk about how dangerous the fall of an asteroid to Earth is and whether there is a chance in the foreseeable future large-scale catastrophe? Let's start with a little historical background.

An asteroid (from the Greek "star-like", "star") is also called a minor planet. It is a celestial body, the size of which exceeds 30 km. Some of them have their own satellites. Many asteroids travel through our solar system. 3.5 million years ago, the Earth fell great amount asteroids that led to global changes.

Traces of an ancient asteroid

In the spring of 2016, in Australia, geologists discovered traces of the fall of an asteroid, the diameter of which was about 30-40 km. That is, in size it is commensurate with a small satellite. The fall caused an 11-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and massive destruction. It was probably one of the asteroids, as a result of which not only the beginnings of life were formed on the earth, but also the entire diversity of the biosphere was formed.

There is also an opinion that the mysterious disappearance of dinosaurs was due to the fall of a large asteroid to Earth. Although this is just one of many versions...

It is interesting! The ancient shock was formed as a result of a meeting with a meteorite. Its depth once reached 20 km. The fall of the meteorite caused a tsunami and climate change similar to nuclear winter. In addition, for up to 16 years on Earth, the temperature could drop by 26 degrees.

Chelyabinsk meteorite

The fall of an asteroid to Earth in February 2013 has become one of the most discussed incidents not only in Russia, but throughout the world. The asteroid, whose mass reached 16 tons, partially burned up in the Earth's atmosphere, but a relatively small part of it fell near Chelyabinsk, fortunately flying over it.

That year he flew over Ural city, which served as the basis for its name. The body itself turned out to be quite ordinary and consisted of chondrites, but the time and place of its fall aroused interest. None of the asteroids that fell to Earth did such damage, since they did not fall in such close proximity to a densely populated area. The mass of the meteorite was 6 tons. Falling into the lake caused broken glass in 7,000 buildings. 112 people were hospitalized with burns, several more people turned to doctors for help. In total, the shock wave covered 6.5 thousand square meters.

The huge damage caused by the asteroid could have been much more significant if the heavenly stone had fallen not into the water, but onto land. Fortunately, the fall of the asteroid to earth did not turn into a large-scale catastrophe.

How dangerous is the fall of a large meteorite to Earth?

According to the calculations of scientists, the fall of an asteroid to Earth can lead to huge damage if a body about 1 km in size falls on the Earth's land. First of all, a funnel with a diameter of about 15 km is formed, this will cause dust to enter the atmosphere. And this, in turn, can lead to large-scale fires. Dust, heated by the sun, will reduce the level of ozone, accelerate chemical reactions in the stratosphere, reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the planet.

Thus, the consequences of an asteroid falling to Earth are very serious. The global temperature of the Earth will fall by 8 0 C, causing glacial period. But in order to cause the extinction of mankind, the asteroid must be 10 times larger.

Giant danger

Recently, scientists have found that centaurs should be included in the list of potential threats to our planet - these are giant asteroids with a diameter of 50 to 100 km. The gravitational field of other planets every 40-100 thousand years throws them towards our Earth. Their number has now increased dramatically. Is it possible for a giant asteroid to fall to Earth in the near future, scientists are constantly calculating, although calculating the trajectory of the fall of centaurs is a very difficult task.

In addition, the list of potential threats to the Earth includes:

• supervolcanic eruption;
• global pandemic;
• asteroid impact (in 0.00013%);
• nuclear war;
• ecological catastrophy.

Will an asteroid hit Earth in October 2017?

The main question that this moment what worries scientists is the danger posed by an asteroid that is twice the size of Chelyabinsk meteorite. There is a possibility that an event will occur in October 2017 that will cause a much larger scale of disaster than the impact in 2013. Astronomer Judith Rees claims that the diameter of the asteroid reaches 40 km. It was dubbed object WF9.

dangerous heavenly body was discovered by scientists in Hawaii back in 2012. That year, it passed at a very close distance from the Earth, and on October 12, 2017, it will approach the most dangerous distance for our planet. Scientists believe that if the fall of the asteroid to Earth really takes place, then the British will be the first to see it.

At the moment, scientists are actively studying the possibility of a collision. True, the probability of an asteroid falling to Earth is very small and, according to researchers, is 1 in a million. However, it is still there.

Constant danger

It should be noted that certain asteroids of various sizes constantly fly past the Earth. They are potentially dangerous, but very rarely actually fall to Earth. So, at the end of 2016, a body flew past the Earth at a distance of 2/3 of the distance from a small truck.

And January 2017 was marked by the passage of a celestial body reaching the size of a 10-story building. He flew within 180 thousand km from us.

In a previous post, an assessment of the danger of an asteroid threat from space was given. And here we will consider what will happen if (when) a meteorite of one size or another still falls to Earth.

The scenario and consequences of such an event as a fall to the Earth of a cosmic body, of course, depends on many factors. We list the main ones:

Space body size

This factor, of course, is paramount. Armageddon on our planet can arrange a meteorite 20 kilometers in size, so in this post we will consider scenarios for the fall of cosmic bodies on the planet ranging in size from a grain of dust to 15-20 km. More - it makes no sense, since in this case the scenario will be simple and obvious.

Compound

Small bodies solar system may have different composition and density. Therefore, there is a difference whether a stone or iron meteorite falls to the Earth, or a loose comet nucleus consisting of ice and snow. Accordingly, in order to inflict the same damage, the comet nucleus must be two to three times larger than the asteroid fragment (at the same fall velocity).

For reference: more than 90 percent of all meteorites are stone.

Speed

Also a very important factor in the collision of bodies. After all, here there is a transition of the kinetic energy of motion into thermal energy. And the speed of entry of cosmic bodies into the atmosphere can vary significantly (from about 12 km / s to 73 km / s, for comets - even more).

The slowest meteorites are those that are catching up with the Earth or being overtaken by it. Accordingly, those flying to meet us will add their speed to orbital speed Earths will pass through the atmosphere much faster, and the explosion from their impact on the surface will be many times more powerful.

Where will it fall

At sea or on land. It is difficult to say in which case the destruction will be greater, everything will just be different.

A meteorite may fall on a nuclear weapons storage site or on a nuclear power plant, then harm to environment could be more from pollution radioactive substances than from a meteorite impact (if it was relatively small).

Angle of incidence

Doesn't play a big role. At those huge speeds at which the cosmic body crashes into the planet, it does not matter at what angle it falls, since in any case the kinetic energy of motion will turn into heat and be released in the form of an explosion. This energy does not depend on the angle of incidence, but only on mass and velocity. Therefore, by the way, all craters (on the Moon, for example) have a circular shape, and there are absolutely no craters in the form of some trenches drilled at an acute angle.

How do bodies of different diameters behave when they fall to the Earth

Up to several centimeters

They burn up completely in the atmosphere, leaving a bright trail several tens of kilometers long (a well-known phenomenon called meteor). The largest of them reach heights of 40-60 km, but most of these "dust particles" burn out at an altitude of more than 80 km.

A massive phenomenon - within just 1 hour, millions (!!) of meteors flare up in the atmosphere. But, taking into account the brightness of the flares and the radius of the observer's view, at night in one hour you can see from a few to dozens of meteors (during meteor showers - more than a hundred). During the day, the mass of dust from meteors that has settled on the surface of our planet is estimated in hundreds, and even thousands of tons.

From centimeters to several meters

Fireballs- the brightest meteors, the brightness of the flash of which exceeds the brightness of the planet Venus. The flash may be accompanied by noise effects up to the sound of an explosion. After that, a smoky trail is left in the sky.

Fragments of cosmic bodies of this size reach the surface of our planet. It happens like this:

At the same time, stone meteoroids, and especially icy ones, are usually crushed into fragments from the explosion and heating. Metal can withstand pressure and fall to the surface entirely:

Iron meteorite "Goba" about 3 meters in size, which fell "entirely" 80 thousand years ago on the territory of modern Namibia (Africa)

If the entry velocity into the atmosphere was very high (oncoming trajectory), then such meteoroids are much less likely to reach the surface, since the force of their friction against the atmosphere will be much greater. The number of fragments into which the meteoroid breaks up can reach hundreds of thousands, the process of their fall is called meteor Rain.

Several tens of small (about 100 grams) fragments of meteorites can fall to Earth in the form of cosmic precipitation per day. Given that most of them fall into the ocean, and in general, they are difficult to distinguish from ordinary stones, they are quite rare to find.

The number of entries into our atmosphere of cosmic bodies about a meter in size is several times a year. If you are lucky, and the fall of such a body will be noticed, there is a chance to find decent fragments weighing hundreds of grams, or even kilograms.

17 meters - Chelyabinsk fireball

Superbolide- so sometimes called especially powerful explosions meteoroids like the one that exploded in February 2013 over Chelyabinsk. According to various expert estimates, the initial size of the body that entered the atmosphere then varies, on average it is estimated at 17 meters. Weight - about 10,000 tons.

The object entered the Earth's atmosphere at a very sharp angle (15-20°) at a speed of about 20 km/sec. It exploded in half a minute at an altitude of about 20 km. The power of the explosion was several hundred kilotons of TNT. This is 20 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, but here the consequences were not so fatal because the explosion occurred on high altitude and the energy was dispersed over a large area, largely away from populated areas.

Less than a tenth of the initial mass of the meteoroid reached the Earth, that is, about a ton or less. The fragments scattered over an area more than 100 km long and about 20 km wide. Many small fragments were found, several weighing kilograms, the largest piece weighing 650 kg was raised from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul:

Damage: almost 5,000 buildings were damaged (mostly broken glass and frames), about 1.5 thousand people were injured by glass fragments.

A body of this size could easily reach the surface without falling apart into fragments. This did not happen due to acute angle entrance, because before exploding, the meteoroid flew several hundred kilometers in the atmosphere. If the Chelyabinsk meteoroid had fallen vertically, then instead of an air shock wave breaking the glass, there would have been a powerful impact on the surface, resulting in a seismic shock, with the formation of a crater with a diameter of 200-300 meters. About the damage and the number of victims, in this case, judge for yourself, everything would depend on the place of the fall.

Concerning repetition rate of similar events, then after the Tunguska meteorite of 1908, this is the largest celestial body that fell to Earth. That is, one or more such guests from outer space can be expected in one century.

Tens of meters are small asteroids

Children's toys are over, let's move on to more serious things.

If you read the previous post, then you know that the small bodies of the solar system up to 30 meters in size are called meteoroids, more than 30 meters - asteroids.

If an asteroid, even the smallest one, meets the Earth, then it will definitely not fall apart in the atmosphere and its speed will not slow down to the speed of free fall, as happens with meteoroids. All the huge energy of its movement will be released in the form of an explosion - that is, it will turn into thermal energy, which will melt the asteroid itself, and mechanical, which will create a crater, scatter earth rock and fragments of the asteroid itself around, and also create a seismic wave.

To quantify the magnitude of such a phenomenon, consider an asteroid crater in Arizona as an example:

This crater was formed 50 thousand years ago from the impact of an iron asteroid with a diameter of 50-60 meters. The force of the explosion was 8000 Hiroshima, the diameter of the crater is 1.2 km, the depth is 200 meters, the edges rise above the surrounding surface by 40 meters.

Another event comparable in scale is the Tunguska meteorite. The power of the explosion was 3000 Hiroshima, but here there was a fall of a small comet nucleus with a diameter of tens to hundreds of meters, according to various estimates. Comet nuclei are often compared to dirty snow cakes, so in this case no crater appeared, the comet exploded in the air and evaporated, knocking down a forest over an area of ​​2 thousand square kilometers. If the same comet exploded over the center of modern Moscow, it would destroy all the houses up to the ring road.

Fall frequency asteroids tens of meters in size - once every few centuries, hundred meters - once every several thousand years.

300 meters - Apophis asteroid (the most dangerous known at the moment)

Although, according to the latest data from NASA, the probability of the Apophis asteroid hitting the Earth during its passage near our planet in 2029 and then in 2036 is almost zero, we will still consider the scenario of the consequences of its possible fall, since there are many asteroids that have not yet been discovered, and such an event can still happen, not this time, but another time.

So .. the asteroid Apophis, contrary to all forecasts, falls to Earth ..

The power of the explosion is 15,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs. When it hits the mainland, an impact crater appears with a diameter of 4-5 km and a depth of 400-500 meters, the shock wave demolishes all brick buildings in a zone with a radius of 50 km, less durable buildings, as well as trees fall at a distance of 100-150 kilometers from the place fall. A column of dust rises into the sky like a mushroom from a nuclear explosion several kilometers high, then the dust begins to spread into different sides, and spreads evenly over the entire planet within a few days.

But, despite the greatly exaggerated horror stories that the media usually scare people with, nuclear winter and the end of the world will not come - the caliber of Apophis is not enough for this. According to the experience of powerful volcanic eruptions that took place in a not very long history, in which huge emissions of dust and ash into the atmosphere also occur, with such an explosion power, the effect of “nuclear winter” will be small - a drop in the average temperature on the planet by 1-2 degrees, through six months to a year everything returns to its place.

That is, this is not a catastrophe of a global, but a regional scale - if Apophis gets into a small country, he will completely destroy it.

When Apophis enters the ocean, coastal areas will suffer from the tsunami. The height of the tsunami will depend on the distance to the place of impact - the initial wave will have a height of about 500 meters, but if Apophis falls into the center of the ocean, then 10-20-meter waves will reach the coast, which is also quite a lot, and the storm lasts with such mega- waves will be several hours. If the impact into the ocean occurs close to the coast, then surfers in coastal (and not only) cities will be able to ride such a wave: (sorry for the dark humor)

Recurrence frequency events of this magnitude in the history of the Earth is measured in tens of thousands of years.

Let's move on to global catastrophes ..

1 kilometer

The scenario is the same as during the fall of Apophis, only the scale of the consequences is many times more serious and already reaches the global catastrophe of the low threshold (the consequences are felt by all mankind, but there is no threat of the death of civilization):

The power of the explosion in "Hiroshima": 50,000, the size of the crater formed when it fell to land: 15-20 km. The radius of the destruction zone from the explosive and seismic waves: up to 1000 km.

When falling into the ocean, again, it all depends on the distance to the coast, since the resulting waves will be very high (1-2 km), but not long, and such waves fade rather quickly. But in any case, the area of ​​flooded territories will be huge - millions of square kilometers.

The decrease in atmospheric transparency in this case from emissions of dust and ash (or water vapor falling into the ocean) will be noticeable for several years. If you enter a seismically dangerous zone, the consequences can be aggravated by earthquakes provoked by the explosion.

However, an asteroid of this diameter will not be able to noticeably tilt the earth's axis or affect the period of rotation of our planet.

Despite not all the drama of this scenario, for the Earth this is a rather ordinary event, since it has already happened thousands of times throughout its existence. Average repetition frequency- once every 200-300 thousand years.

An asteroid with a diameter of 10 kilometers is a global catastrophe on a planetary scale

• The power of the explosion in "Hiroshima": 50 million
• The size of the crater formed when falling on land: 70-100 km, depth - 5-6 km.
• cracking depth earth's crust will be tens of kilometers, that is, up to the mantle (the thickness of the earth's crust under the plains is on average 35 km). Magma will come to the surface.
• The area of ​​the destruction zone can be several percent of the Earth's area.
• During the explosion, a cloud of dust and molten rock will rise to a height of tens of kilometers, possibly up to a hundred. The volume of ejected materials - several thousand cubic kilometers - is enough for a light "asteroid autumn", but not enough for an "asteroid winter" and the beginning of an ice age.
• Secondary craters and tsunamis from fragments and large pieces of ejected rock.
• Slight, but by geological standards, a decent slope earth's axis from impact - up to 1/10 of a degree.
• When it hits the ocean - a tsunami with kilometer-long (!!) waves that go far deep into the continents.
• In the case of intense eruptions of volcanic gases, acid rain is possible later.

But this is not quite Armageddon yet! Even such grandiose catastrophes our planet has already experienced dozens or even hundreds of times. On average, this happens one once every 100 million years. If this happened at the present time, the number of victims would be unprecedented, in the worst case it could be measured in billions of people, moreover, it is not known what social upheavals this would lead to. However, despite the period of acid rain and several years of some cooling due to a decrease in the transparency of the atmosphere, in 10 years the climate and the biosphere would have fully recovered.

Armageddon

For such a significant event in the history of mankind, an asteroid the size of 15-20 kilometers in the amount of 1 piece.

The next ice age will come, most of the living organisms will die, but life on the planet will continue, although it will no longer be the same as before. As always, the fittest will survive.

Such events have also happened more than once since the emergence of life on it, Armageddons have happened at least a few, and maybe dozens of times. It is believed that last time it happened 65 million years ( Chicxulub meteorite), when dinosaurs and almost all other species of living organisms died, only 5% of the elect remained, including our ancestors.

Full Armageddon

If a cosmic body the size of Texas crashes into our planet, as was the case in the famous film with Bruce Willis, then even bacteria will not survive (although, who knows?), life will have to arise and evolve anew.

Conclusion

I wanted to write a review post about meteorites, but the scenarios of Armageddon turned out. Therefore, I want to say that all the events described, starting with Apophis (inclusive), are considered as theoretically possible, since they will definitely not happen in the next hundred years at least. Why this is so is detailed in the previous post.

I also want to add that all the figures given here regarding the correspondence between the size of the meteorite and the consequences of its fall to Earth are very approximate. The data in different sources differ, plus the initial factors in the fall of an asteroid of the same diameter can vary greatly. For example, everywhere it is written that the size of the Chicxulub meteorite is 10 km, but in one, as it seemed to me, authoritative source, I read that a 10-kilometer stone could not do such troubles, so my Chicxulub meteorite entered the 15-20 km category .

So, if suddenly Apophis still falls in the 29th or 36th year, and the radius of the affected area will be very different from what is written here - write, I will correct