To collectors, Sikhote-Alin is one of the classic and most desirable meteorites: it fell in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, Primorye, Russia, near the village of Paseka (approximately 440 km northeast of Vladivostok) on the morning of February 12, 1947.
At around 10:30 am that morning, local people reported a fireball brighter than the sun, descending from the northern part of the sky at an angle of about 41 degrees. The bright flash and the deafening sound of the fall were observed for three hundred kilometres around the point of impact.
The original object apparently exploded - and changed direction - several times during its trajectory: the fragments that broke away first were remelted and oriented during their descent, whereas those that originated from subsequent shattering lower in the atmosphere are typically twisted and torn into 'shrapnel' fragments.
It is often remarked that a similar explosion today - happening as it did above the main Soviet Pacific naval base - would probably be seen as part of a pre-emptive attack by the USA!
Here are some newly-arrived SA's from a parcel I just managed to obtain.
No comments:
Post a Comment