Chelyabinsk Meteor • High-fidelity Simulation Offers Insight into 2013 Atmospheric Disruption 10.3.23 VIDEO: The meteor is shown as a contour of the damage state (white intact, black fully-damaged). Shock-heated air nodes are displayed as points colored by their temperature. Initially fracture begins at the rear of the object. The crack then propagates forward eventually splitting the object into three coherent fragments. The fragments are disrupted shortly thereafter. Image courtesy of LLNL Pla

2.5K views · 97 reactions | On February 15, 2013, a small asteroid...

On February 15, 2013, a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, creating the most powerful atmospheric entry event in recorded history since the 1908 Tunguska explosion. The superbolide entered Earth's atmosphere at approximately 9:20 a.m. local time, traveling at over 40,000 miles per hour. The meteor measured roughly 20 meters in diameter and weighed an estimated 12,000-13,000 metric tons before its explosive disintegration. The airburst occurred at an altitude of about 18.5 miles above the