A catastrophe from space - Sikhote-Alin meteorite

On February 12, 1947, in the Primorye Territory hundreds of thousands of small pieces of iron fell to the ground. The reason for this disaster was the Sikhote-Alin meteorite, which fell into the earth's atmosphere and split into many parts. He became one of the largest meteorites ever to fall to Earth. In addition, this meteorite has a number of features that make it unique. For example, it has a homogeneous chemical composition, but it is not a single crystal, but consists of numerous, poorly interconnected crystals, which probably caused a split.

Scientific facts

Methiorite fell 46 degrees 10 minutes north latitude and 134 degrees 39 minutes east longitude. The wreckage fell on the area of 12x4 km. There are twenty-four craters on it, the diameter of which is more than nine meters, as well as many smaller funnels. The mass of the substance that was collected is more than twenty-seven tons. According to the pre-atmospheric trajectory of the meteorite, it was possible to determine that it flew from the central part of the meteorite belt.

The Sikhote-Alin meteorite caused the renaming of some geographical objects. Two streams near the place of its fall now bear the names of the Small and Large Meteorites, the nearest settlement was also named in his honor. The area itself became a monument of nature.

Interesting features

In 1976, there was an amusing incident associated with this meteorite. His splinter was found in a coal bed , but not in the Sikhote-Alin area, but near Donetsk, after which it was transferred to the Meteorite Commission, where it was registered as a separate coal mine and was named Marinka. Only ten years later, while analyzing its contents, the error was discovered and eliminated, and before that the fragment was considered to be the oldest meteorite on Earth.

There were several scientists who very faithfully explored the Sikhote-Alin meteorite. Among them, E.L. Krinov, E.I. Malinkin, who participated in all fifteen expeditions, V.I. Tsvetkov, who also took part in them and even headed some expeditions. Apart from them, Academician Fesenkov, Doctor of Science, Dewari, geophysicists Gorshkov and Guskova, Tallinn geologists Aaloe and Kestlane, Doctors of Sciences Semenenko, Lavrukhin, Boyarkin's mathematicians and many others took part in the research. Most of them were all the scientists who investigated Tunguska. Therefore, in their publications, there are often comparisons of the two largest meteorites.

Connection with the Tunguska meteorite

The Sikhote-Alin meteorite can be called, in a sense, the antipode of the Tunguska. For example:

• The first flew about five seconds, and the second - a few minutes;
• The first exploded in the air, the second struck the ground;
• There are no substances of the cosmic body on Tunguska;
• The visible trajectory of the fireballs is 140 kilometers and 700 kilometers, respectively;
• The range of atmospheric anomalies is global in the case of the Tunguska meteorite and is limited from the Sikhote-Alinsky.

The meteorite that fell in Sikhote-Alin is the largest in the world, but its landing was accompanied by a small number of accompanying phenomena. In Tungus, however, there are no traces of the celestial body , but there were powerful destructive phenomena in the fall.