10 Years Ago Today, the Chelyabinsk Meteor Exploded Over Russia

A tenner ago today , the city of Chelyabinsk , Russia unexpectedly find itself under ravishment from infinite , as a roughly 60 - foot - wide asteroid exploded over the area . It was a shameful reminder that our major planet can be struck at any prison term — and succeeding impact could be a circle more serious .

The asteroid go in Earth ’s atmospheric state on February 15 , 2013 , and the bolide was captured by security department camera , vehicle dashcams , and the smartphones of eyewitnesses around Chelyabinsk . Soon after came a deafen shockwave and sonic boom , which damaged construction , fructify off cable car alarm , and injure around 1,600 people .

The event was a striking wakeup call about the grandness of planetary defense . This rock’n’roll was n’t a major threat to humankind , but the next one might be . In the 10 years since , our ability to detect small asteroids has ameliorate . NASA has even experimented with way to stave off incoming asteroids that might stupefy a scourge , with the recentDART missionto dash into a little blank space rock . DARTsuccessfully incite its objective asteroid , exhibit a potential solution in defending Earth .

The meteor left a long trail in its wake before exploding over Chelyabinsk, Russia.