Chelyabinsk Meteorite

The Chelyabinsk meteorite refers to the fragments resulting from a meteoroid that entered Earth's atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15, 2013. When the meteoroid collided with Earth's atmosphere at high speed, it produced a bright flash and a powerful shockwave, causing thousands of injuries mainly from glass from broken windows. The explosion occurred at about 23 miles above the ground, releasing energy equivalent to several Hiroshima atomic bombs. The meteorite itself broke into many pieces, some recovered on the ground, providing valuable scientific data about space debris and the need for planetary defense.