Half-Ton Chunk of Chelyabinsk Meteorite Recovered in Russian Lake; Experts Say it is One of Largest Recoveries to Date
ByMore of the meteorite that flew over Chelyabinsk has been recovered, this time a large chunk was recovered in Russia's Lake Chebarkul, BBC News reported.
Divers recovered the space rock at about 13 meters deep in the lake, weighing about a half of a ton that crashed through the ice of the lake last February leaving a hole six meters wide. Experts say it is the largest fragment recovered to date from the meteorite that exploded in mid air earlier this year, sending bits through car windows, hitting buildings and people.
Live news coverage in tow, the divers put the space rock on a metal sheet while still underwater to drag the meteorite chunk out. When trying to lift the five-foot-long rock (1.5 meters), it broke apart into three smaller pieces. The meteorite also broke the scale brought to the site to get its weight. The moment the scale hit 1,255 pounds (570 kg), it broke.
"Fusion crust forms as the meteoroid is travelling through the atmosphere as a fireball," said Dr. Caroline Smith, curator of meteorites at London's Natural History Museum, who confirmed what the rock was. "The outer surface gets so hot it melts the rock to form a dark, glassy surface crust which we term a fusion crust. Regmaglypts are the indentations, that look a bit like thumbprints, also seen on the surface of the meteorite."
Sergey Zamozdra, an associate professor at Chelyabinsk State University, told Interfax News the meteorite was not only one of the biggest chunks of space rocks he has ever seen, but rather that anyone has.
"The preliminary examination... shows that this is really a fraction of the Chelyabinsk meteorite," he said. "This chunk is most probably one of the top ten biggest meteorite fragments ever found."
About four or five meteorite fragments recovered from the Feb. incident were verified to actually be from space. A Russian news agency previously reported 12 such pieces had been recovered.