Rock heaven - disaster 'gift'

With the " heavenly stone " world, the meteorite pieces are a quarterly item, the price can be up to 1,000 euros (about VND 20 million) per gram. However, space researchers say that they contain disasters.

'We are under the kitchen preparing for breakfast, when we hear a huge explosion, like a bomb exploded "- Mr. Archer on the outskirts of Auckland, New Zealand, recounted the situation that made his family get a tablet We are very surprised when we find it lying down in the living room floor, it is very hot to touch. I immediately called the insurance company and only a few hours later, scientists or news came to the house . '.

From then on, Mr. and Mrs. Archer must constantly answer the phone and welcome scientists from many parts of the world to learn about this 'unwanted gift' .

According to astronomers, the stone that Mr. and Mrs. Archer hold has moved about 700 million kilometers from an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter. When entering the Earth's atmosphere, it is about the size of a basketball and moves at speeds of up to 50,000 km / hour. At the time of breaking Archer's roof, its speed had dropped to about 500 km / h. This is the ninth heaven recorded in New Zealand so far.

The 8th island was discovered 28 years earlier. Dr. Joel Schiff, lecturer at Auckland University, editor of Meteorite Magazine (Meteorite), said it was a large and beautiful heavenly stone.

Unexpected treasures .

Meteorite (Photo: SK & ĐS) In case the sky falls over the roof, it is very rare. That has increased its appeal to scientists as well as collectors. International collectors paid a high price in exchange for the stone, but Archer said it was a treasure of the country, so it had to be kept in the country. He wanted to sell it to a museum of his country. Experts estimate that it can be purchased for over $ 10,000. What a huge amount of money for a gray sky stone weighs only 1.3 kg.

In Ensisheim region, there is an ancient stone that is considered to be the oldest in the Middle East region, falling into the earth on April 7, 1942. That stone is stored in the city's main palace. The second floor of the palace is dedicated to showcasing the collection of sky players from Germany, France, Italy, Morocco, Russia . They are all members of the Sky Rock Hunters Club. Every year, in a small village of Alsake people in this region, people often organize a special fair called the Fair of Heavenly Stones. Visitors from busy places flock to. Every 4 euros for a ticket with free drinks.

At the fair, people set a price of 1,000 euros for a gram of sky stone. A stone taken from a 15.5-ton Williamette meteorite on display at the American Museum of Natural History can be sold for $ 8,000-10,000. Or iron meteorites taken from the Sky Valley in Argentina fell to earth thousands of years ago sold for between 40,000-50,000 USD. The cheapest sky stones cost $ 5,000-6,000, taken from the moon.

Sky hunters often go to large deserts like Sahara and Antarcticque in the hope of finding treasure. But only those who are fortunate can get it, because they appear suddenly everywhere, in places that people do not expect and can only forever be a normal stone because they are not recognized.

In Vietnam, at the showroom of gems and gems at Dong Khoi Street in Ho Chi Minh City, there are polished and polished black stones, placed in small boxes lined with red velvet and labeled ' Meteorite '. Farmers in Da Lat (Lam Dong) have thrown these sky stones rolling in the corner of the garden or in the pile because they don't know its value. Here, in 1m ^{3 of} land, about 10-20 sky stones can be found called tectit. Every day, a person who can find carefully can pick up a few kilograms, sell it to a jeweler shop for several tens of thousands of dong. After sharpening into jewelry, jewelers can sell for hundreds of times.

. but also a disaster

For researchers of the universe, those who kick the sky often contain unpredictable disasters.

According to the latest records of the Spaceguard Foundation (launched in 1996, the mission is to detect everything in space that could endanger the earth), every year thousands of tons kicking the sky falls to the earth.

There are currently at least 1,200 sky stones in diameter greater than 1 km and 200,000 tablets of diameter over 100 m are hovering near the earth. In addition there were countless stones that the telescope did not detect. They are ready to fall to the earth at any time.

Although it is impossible to predict exactly when they will ' land ', humans can also calculate the impact of collisions. Often plunging to Earth at speeds of 50,000-100,000 km / h, a meteorite with a diameter of 5 m when touching the ground is enough to cause an energy source equivalent to an atomic bomb, with a diameter of 50 km it is similar like 1,000 atomic bombs exploded.

And especially serious: According to calculations, the earth will be hit by a sky stone every 1-2 km in diameter, a collision capable of killing at least 1.5 billion people. It is suspected that this happened 65 million years ago, destroying dinosaurs.

While sky-rock collectors always dream of a gift falling from the sky, scientists find a way to prevent it from falling into the earth: What is a rocket launcher with atomic bombs aimed at? destroy or deflect falling rocks, melting blocks with lasers from the moment the heavenly stone is about to approach the earth .

Le Vu Lien Phuong