Instagrammers in Chelyabinsk Document Meteor Landing
Moments after fragments of a meteor entered the earths atmosphere over the southern Ural Mountains early Friday, Instagrammers from the Russian city of Chelyabinsk began posting photos of the meteors glowing trail.
The meteor, which lit up the sky about 950 miles east of Moscow, sent a shockwave through the area that shattered windows and injured many people. After the impact, Chelyabinsk resident (@ustyuzhanin) set out to determine exactly what had happened. Through Instagram, he shared with his friends and the world real-time photos of scenes he encountered in and around the city. A lot of people in our city didnt know what happened at the beginning, he says, so I used Instagram as a way to share what I saw.
To see more photos that document the meteorite and its aftermath, view s photos and browse the # and #Chelyabinsk hashtags.
A meteor weighing ~10 tons and traveling at supersonic speed (54,000 kph or 33,000 mph) streaked over the Russian Ural Mtns. earlier today at 9:20 am local time (0320 GMT). About 400 injuries are reported, mostly due to broken glass and damage to a local factory.
Ameteorideis a small piece of space debris usually part of comets or asteroids that is on a collision course with the Earth. When meteoroids enter the Earths atmosphere they are calledmeteors. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere, but if they survive the frictional heating and strike the surface of the Earth they are calledmeteorites. Currently, there is no technology to intercept such fast moving objects from crashing on earth.
