Chelyabinsk Meteorite

Chelyabinsk Meteorite

This meteorite fell in Russia in 2013 - during one of the most famous meteorite falls in recent times. It is an LL5 ordinary chondrite. Ordinary chondrites are divided into three main groups - H, L, and LL - depending on their chemical composition. LL means this type of meteorite has low total iron and low metal content.

On 15 February 2013, residents of the Chelyabinsk region of Russia saw a bright fireball in the sky, followed by a large explosion. An asteroid, around 20 metres across, had fragmented in an atmospheric airburst, scattering meteorite fragments over a large area. The event was captured on a number of cameras, with many eyewitnesses. The blast caused widespread damage, largely from broken windows. More than a thousand people reported injuries, with over a hundred hospitalised.

Chelyabinsk was a reminder that large rocks from space can do significant damage. Entering the atmosphere at incredible speed, the meteor flashed briefly brighter than the Sun, followed by a powerful shockwave that damaged buildings across a wide area. The largest meteorite recovered fell into the frozen Lake Chebarkul, with an incredible recovery operation managing to raise hundreds of kilogrammes from the lakebed. This small 107-gramme meteorite is one of thousands of smaller pieces recovered across the region. It shows fresh fusion crust, but also an impact melt matrix formed in space from a past large impact on its parent asteroid.