14 DAY TRIAL // The largest fragment of the meteorite that crashed in Russia earlier this year has been recovered from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul in the Urals.
The fragment weighs in about 570 kilograms (1,256 pounds) and split into three pieces when scientists tried to weigh it, although exactly how heavy it is couldn’t be determined yet since the scale broke down, RT reports.
“The preliminary examination shows that this is really a fraction of the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It’s got thick burn-off, the rust is clearly seen and it’s got a big number of indents. This chuck is most probably one of the top ten biggest meteorite fragments ever found,” said Sergey Zamozdra, associate professor of Chelyabinsk State University.
The plan is to have a small sample of the meteorite X-rayed to determine what minerals it consists of.
A huge meteorite, weighing about 11,000 tons (22,000 pounds), exploded over the Chelyabinks area in Russia on February 15 injuring over 1,600 people and causing damages estimated to $31 million (€22.9 million).