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Russian Meteor: Chelyabinsk Asteroid Had Violent Past

Posted by samzenpus on from the use-your-words dept.

astroengine (1577233) writes "The asteroid that hit Earth last year and exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, had a prior crash record. Fragments of the asteroid recovered after the powerful Feb. 15, 2013, airburst show it contained an unusual form of the mineral jadeite embedded in glassy structures known as shock veins. Shock veins typically form when the parent body of a meteor or asteroid collides with a larger object in space. Heat and pressure from the impact cause rock to melt. It later reforms bearing vein-shaped patterns. 'Impact-induced jadeite has been found from other shocked meteorites. However, a unique point of the Chelyabinsk jadeite is that it seems to have crystallized from melt. To my knowledge, previously reported jadeite in other meteorites is considered to have formed (by solid-state reaction) without melting,' graduate student Shin Ozawa, with Japan's Tohoku University, wrote in an email to Discovery News."

16 of 24 comments (clear)

  1. asteroids by rossdee · · Score: 1

    So theres other parts of it somewhere out there

    1. Re:asteroids by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      So theres other parts of it somewhere out there

      Hope they are not looking for mommy...

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    2. Re:asteroids by wallsg · · Score: 1

      I used to play Asteroids. I wasn't very good at it.

    3. Re:asteroids by SpankiMonki · · Score: 2

      So theres other parts of it somewhere out there

      Slashdot's DRM bot has flagged your post as a violation of the DMCA. Don't EVAR post the last three words of that sentence again, or we will report you to the MPAA. SWAT teams WILL be mobilized.

      And (just to be safe) don't even speak the last three words of that sentence, mkay?

      (so far, you're safe to think those words, but we're working on that)

    4. Re:asteroids by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      You better hope that mommy ain't coming to look for her li'l one...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:asteroids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I could make a quarter last so long that John (1979 Apu) had to throw me out of the 7-11 (1979 Kwik-E-Mart)

    6. Re:asteroids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So theres other parts of it somewhere out there

      I don't study asteroids or meteorites for a living but the summary sounds like a whole lot of speculation to me. Perhaps there are lots of different ways the rock could melt and then reform.

  2. Pffft, party crashers by Tablizer · · Score: 1

    Once a hoodlum always a hoodlum

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Pffft, party crashers by Austrian+Anarchy · · Score: 1

      Yes, just like on the road. If a car has dents and smashes, it is probably going to collect more and the next one may be from you!

      --
      Time Bomber the Book coming soon.
  3. The Force? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Is Jediite created by The Force?

  4. Beaten as a child by pubwvj · · Score: 1

    ...it too became an abuser, breaking windows through out the city in one hellish tantrum.

  5. Test shot by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 1

    It was clearly steered at us, this is proof!

  6. Doesn't really come as a surprise by ildon · · Score: 1

    This isn't really a surprise because an interstellar impact is probably what placed it into the path of our orbit to begin with. But hey, I'm no astronomer/astrophysicist/whatever.

  7. A secret American weapon aimed at Mother Russia by mi · · Score: 1

    A fair number of Russians believe, the "asteroid" was, actually, an American weapon...

    You can laugh at fellow American kooks, who suspect American government at everything, but the paranoia — against the same American government — is even wider spread over there.

    Even earthquakes and tornadoes are firmly believed by some (or many?) to be triggered by the evil Pentagon or Gosdep (which is what "Department of State" translates as in Russian). I'd offer links, but they are all in Russian...

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
    1. Re:A secret American weapon aimed at Mother Russia by airdweller · · Score: 1

      What is a "fair number"?

  8. So in addition to Crimea... by unixisc · · Score: 1

    ...there could have been more territory the Russkies could have added. If only, instead of a diameter of 17 meters, it had been a diameter of 17 kilometers, and dropped along the Russo-Kazakh border, the Russkies could have had all of it, and annexed a bit of Kazakh territory to go w/ it, and Vlad could have had more land to show his people and keep his popularity in the 90%+