Nearly 1000 people have been injured after a meteorite exploded over western Siberia early Friday morning. The meteor which weighed 10 tonnes and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 33,000mph (54,000kph), shattered between 30 to 50 km above ground. The explosion and resulting shockwave broke windows causing injuries, set off car alarms, and disrupted cell phone service. Over 20,000 people and several airplanes have been dispatched to collect meteorite fragments.
NASA has confirmed in a statement that the Russian meteorite is unrelated to the asteroid that will pass nearby the Earth today, saying “The trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object.” According to the space agency, the two space rocks were moving in almost opposite directions.
There’s a lot of incredible video footage showing what the meteor looked like from the ground. But if you have any questions about what it looked like from space, or whether or not Earth is currently being surrounded by alien spacecraft, maybe Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield will have some answers. He’s taking a break from Tweeting and playing guitar in space to do a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Sunday at 4 pm EST.
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Saša Mitrović is a blogger and a Toronto Standard intern. Follow her on Twitter at @thrasheddoll
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