Determine the origin of Russian meteorites

Astronomers have speculated that the meteorite's early residence in central Russia on February 15 is a meteorite belt between Mars and Jupiter.

A meteorite plunged into central Russia on February 15, releasing energy equivalent to 20-25 atomic bombs that the United States threw at Japan's Hiroshima city during World War II. After this incident, many politicians and scientists have called on governments to strengthen their ability to monitor and prevent meteorites.

Scene of meteorite burning in the atmosphere at
Russia February 15 in a video of people. (Photo: AP)

To find out the source of meteorites falling on Russia, Jorge Zuluaga and Ignacio Ferrin - two astronomers from the University of Antioquia in Colombia - analyzed videos of meteorites put on the Internet by the people. After putting data on air routes and other meteorites and a software of the US Naval Observatory, they reconstructed its trajectory before colliding with the earth.

"We found that the rock was probably the fragment of an asteroid from the Apollo meteorite group," the researchers said. Apollo meteorite group is "sky rocks" near the earth. They include about 5,700 of the 9,700 meteorites near Earth that humans have discovered.

Calculated by Zuluaga and Ferrin, meteorites plunged at a speed of 13 to 19km / s, exploding at an altitude of 32 to 47km.

Dr. Stephen Lowry, a scientist at Kent University in the UK, appreciated the results and speed of research of Zuluaga and Ferrin.

"It has an elliptical orbit with a low slope - a characteristic of meteorites in the solar system. It is most likely a fragment of an asteroid coming from the meteorite belt between Mars and Jupiter" , Lowry comment.