From ancient times fire stones falling from the sky brought people to a state of awe. The people attached mystical significance to the natural phenomenon, connecting the rockfall with the divine signs.
Currently, despite the unraveling nature of meteor shower, people continue to be surprised and afraid of such natural phenomena. Believers say that this is a punishment for the sins of people. Scientists explain that meteor shower is a simple, albeit rare, occurrence on Earth. The fact is that on other planets of the solar system, meteorites fall to the surface much more often. Why? Let's figure it out.
Meteor Rain. What it is
In short, we can say that this is a stream of stones falling to the earth from the sky. The formation and description of meteor shower comes down to the following: an asteroid enters the upper atmosphere and begins to be attracted by the Earth. When it reaches a denser atmosphere, it breaks up into many small pieces. Now a stream of stones flies to the surface of the Earth, which may be of a mineral or metal composition. The car is divided into parts, because it itself consists of many small pieces. Such is the natural structure of the substance of many meteorites. Parts of meteorites range in size from a few micrometers to a few centimeters. In these stones, between the denser formations lie more friable mineral layers.
During the entire flight, the car experiences tremendous friction against the atmosphere of the Earth. It heats up so much that it begins to burn in air currents. The glow of a large car can be brighter than sunlight reaching the Earth. In this case, the external surface of the falling body changes. It forms a pattern of those air currents that passed through the car. A huge mass of matter burns in air layers: up to tens of tons. So a very small part of what has got into the atmosphere flies to the earth.
Earth's protective shell
Our atmosphere protects the planet quite qualitatively from bodies falling on it. A very small number of fireballs invading the atmosphere reaches the surface of the Earth. Other planets have no atmosphere. This explains why they are much more often “poured” by stone rain.
The work of scientists
What flies leaves craters in the earth's crust, which are carefully studied by scientists around the world. There are always a large number of meteorite debris in the craters. The found pieces are examined for chemical composition, the meteorite structure is analyzed, its possible origin is supposed. Meteorites are very much appreciated among the scientific community. The fact is that meteor shower is pieces that have fallen to Earth from space, which is fraught with many more mysteries. It is much easier to collect the pieces that flew to us themselves than to fly people into space for research material.
Tsarevsky meteorite
In 1922, meteorite rain fell on the territory of modern Volgograd region with a total weight of more than a ton. Witnesses said that the car made a loud hum in flight, and then an explosion occurred (the meteorite was fragmented into pieces). At that time, the finds of cosmic bodies were also valued. However, researchers have not been able to find a meteorite for a long time. The Tsarevsky meteorite was discovered by chance only in 1968 during earthworks.
Sikhote-Alin meteorite
In 1947, a very large fireball burst into the Earth’s atmosphere. According to scientists, he weighed 1,500 - 2,000 tons. In the dense layers of the atmosphere, a stone block fell into thousands of parts. About 60-100 tons of cosmic matter collapsed onto the earth. The shock wave knocked out the windows, knocked down the roofs. Meteor shower showered the Ussuri taiga for several square kilometers. Funnels of huge sizes formed. Photo meteor shower cannot be captured. The picture shows only craters that have survived to this day.
The largest funnel had a diameter of 28 meters. The maximum depth is 6 meters. Of course, the forest suffered significant devastation. Trees that day pulled out with roots.
Meteor shower caused the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, as it was later called by scientists. He was one of the many asteroids orbiting the sun.
Chemical composition
Iron is the main chemical element of the meteorite (94%). Also found in it are nickel, cobalt, sulfur, phosphorus and many other elements in small quantities. There are precious metals in this "messenger of heaven."
In addition to iron meteorites, there are stone fireballs.
Allende
In 1969, a carbonaceous meteorite fell on the territory of Mexico. He is the largest stone from the sky, which has such a chemical composition.
This find is appreciated by the fact that it is the most ancient body of the objects that people have. The age of the meteorite debris, which is currently scattered in various museums around the world, is more than 4.5 billion years. Scientists have discovered in the composition of Allende a new mineral pangit, which, apparently, is not on our planet.
Meteor shower is a bright and spectacular phenomenon of nature. It always attracts the attention of local residents, as well as scientists and space lovers. As it turned out, the composition of asteroids differs markedly from the composition of planet Earth. Huge chunks of pure iron and new minerals are explored with great care.