Russian meteorite

Spectacular fireball from space explodes over Russian city

RT,

19 April, 2014

A suspected meteorite explosion has been recorded by citizens of the northern Russian city of Murmansk.

Multiple drivers with dashcams out on the streets of the 300,000-people city at 2.10am on Saturday noticed a bright blue trail speed across the night sky, then explode while still in the air.

Most observers identified the object as a meteorite, though officials have neither confirmed it nor said where the fragments are likely to have landed. Others speculated that the object may have been space debris, re-entering the atmosphere.

Emergency services say there were no injuries as a result of the astral event.

While tens of tons of cosmic dust reaches the Earth’s atmosphere each day, the number of meteorites that reach the surface may be about 500 a year, though most are small, and scientists do not have a precise calculation.

The most spectacular meteorite of recent years was over the Urals city of Chelyabinsk last year, when an astral body exploded in the sky with the strength of 40 Hiroshima bombs, temporarily blinding and deafening hundreds of people below.