A 150-foot-wide rock is making an unusually close pass by
Earth. Last morning, a heavy meteor shower rained down on central
Russia on Friday, sowing panic as the hurtling space debris smashed windows and
injured dozens of stunned locals, officials said.
The gymnasium-sized rock 2012 DA14, 40 or 50 meters (130 to 160
feet) across, is making the closest Earth flyby of a natural object ever
predicted well in advance.
It will pass within 28,500 km (18,000 miles) of Earth’s surface
at 19:25 Universal Time (11.25am UAE time) tonight, February 15th. It would
have then reached 8th magnitude as it whizzes north across the stars at a rate
of 0.8° per minute.
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| Meteorites looking like large burning Rock |
According to various reports, at least 1000 people were
reportedly ‘injured’ when a meteor streaked across the sky over Russia’s Ural
Mountains on Friday morning.
The meteor triggered several big explosions, sending fragments
falling to earth. Russian Interior Ministry spokesman said more than 500 people
hurt in meteorite fall.
There are conflicting reports about what actually happened.
There are conflicting reports about what actually happened.
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| Eight meter Hole Left by Meteorites in Russia |
Schools in the Urals area of Russia have been ordered to remain
shut for the day as a precautionary measure after reports of the impact blowing
out windows of buildings and with temperatures plunging in central Russia to
-18˚C (0˚F).
A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The
Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry
spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying
it was a single meteorite.
Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object
speeding across the sky, leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.
Russia Today, a news network broadcasting from Moscow and
Washington studios, has published this YouTube video showing amateur footage of
a bright ball of fire, the meteorite, hitting earth and causing what it says
was a series of explosions.
Witnesses said that houses shuddered, windows were blown out and
cellphones stopped working just after the meteor shower.
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