Scientists have revealed new details of the car's research and talked about the crystal found in it
On February 15, Chelyabinsk celebrated the third anniversary of the meteorite fall. There was a lot of memories in social networks. We remembered the space alien and we are on the radio program "Komsomolskaya Pravda" (95.3 FM). Our guests are Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Theoretical Physics at ChelSU, laureate of the NASA Prize named after Goddard Alexander Dudorov and candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, associate professor of the same department Sergey Zamozdra.
YOU DIDN'T LEARN ABLATION
Only part of the meteorite fell into the lake. They say the rest was shot down by a rocket, or even a UFO … There is a video in which it is noticeable how, after approaching a point, a meteorite explodes
“A very small part really fell into the lake,” says Alexander Dudorov. - Taking into account the raised satellites, only 650 kg were found there. But! Anyone who talks about a rocket does not know anything about ablation (the professor pointed his finger up).
What kind of word is that?
- Means the burning and blowing off of the meteoric body matter by the oncoming stream of particles. A meteorite in space weighed 10 thousand tons. And when it entered the dense layers of the atmosphere, the air heated it, blew it off and carried away the external dust and gas. By the beginning of the outbreak, 99% of its substance had been removed.
Promotional video:
And only a piece remained of the colossus
“The air resistance was so strong that it exceeded the strength of the meteorite. At an altitude of 45 km, it began to crumble into stones, which scattered over a large area.
What kind of object is flying towards him in the video?
- Our graduate Gennady Ionov, a specialist in astronomical photography and image processing, believes that it was just a defect in the car glass. The optics "caught" the glare moving when the car is moving, - Sergey Zamozdra explained.
A very small part of the meteorite fell into the lake.
Photo: Valery ZVONAREV / kp.ru
OUR BOLID IS THE MOST DECISIVE
Was it possible to have time to raise the rocket if the car arrived suddenly?
- That's it! - Dudorov perked up. - Filming from NASA satellites and from video cameras made it possible to observe the movement of the fireball from a distance of 280 km to its splashdown, so to speak. He walked at a speed of 20 km per second. Divide 280 by 20 to get 14 seconds. In 14 seconds, can you manage to launch a rocket that would interrupt its flight? In that case, I would be very proud of our military. But so far they cannot react to such fast objects.
“And for space experts, its appearance was unexpected
“Astronomers are not yet ready to confidently detect objects less than 1 km in size, and the Chelyabinsk bolide is only 18 meters,” Zamozdra replied shortly. Dudorov recalled that although the "guest" was small, but dangerous: more than 7 thousand buildings were damaged, more than a thousand people sought medical help.
“It's good that meteorites avoid crowded areas,” joked Alexander Yegorovich. - Ours is unique in that it was the first to "dare" to fly over a densely populated, and even industrial territory. Fortunately, he did not have enough determination to move over Chelyabinsk, he chose a route 50 km to the south. And dived into the lake instead of falling to the ground.
Our meteorite is unique in that it was the first to "dare" to fly over the industrial area.
Photo: Valery ZVONAREV / kp.ru
METEORITE KLONDIKE
I remember that the locals were the first to rush in search of the "stones"
- They also reported about the meteor shower that fell on the rooftops. Fragments of a celestial body were everywhere. People immediately rang about this family and friends. "Meteorite hunters" instantly came in large numbers, - recalls Zamozdra.
What are they for?
- Someone said that this could earn extra money, there was an excitement, later even collectors from Moscow arrived. In addition, this is a wonderful souvenir to tell descendants about the connection with space. Many hope that a guest from heaven will help improve their health.
Dudorov smiles slyly:
- So it is clear that it increases potency in men!
And he continues seriously:
- Our scientific expedition first went to the village of Emanzhelinka. There, meteoritics fell out in size from millimeters to centimeters. The students described the meteor shower with delight. We also went to other settlements. All fields around were trampled to disgrace. There were as many cars along the road as is the case at a demonstration. Some kind of meteoric Klondike! People walked, looking at their feet, so as not to miss a hole in the snow made by the fallen fragment.
The scientist added that the meteorite first rained down in millimeters, then in centimeters, and closer to Chebarkul switched to decimeters. Scientific expeditions managed to collect about a ton of fragments in the first six months.
Someone said that this could earn extra money, there was excitement, even collectors from Moscow came.
Photo: Valery ZVONAREV / kp.ru
ABOUT THE USE OF DUST
In the fall of 2013, fragments of an alien were raised from the lake. Amid this apparent success, the collection of meteorite dust went unnoticed. The guests of the radio studio said that our fellow countryman, leading astrophysicist of NASA Nikolay Gorkavy drew attention to it. I wrote a letter to the administration of ChelSU. Convinced that this is a unique case, we must try to collect before the meteorite dust left along with the spring waters. We created a special expedition for the operational collection of substances, in conditions of high snow cover it was a real feat!
“Before publication in a prestigious magazine, it was Gorky's“military secret,”says Zamozdra. - Thanks to filming from the Suomi satellite, he recorded a giant ring of dust when it was still in space, then began to settle to Earth.
Is it visible?
- Different sizes: from nanometers to one millimeter. We were looking for one that can be seen with the eye. Found a whole layer in the snow. Research has shown that it is definitely from space. The dust particles were separated with a magnet and filters. Under a microscope, they look like small meteorites. Thanks to the collected dust, it was possible to calculate the light distribution coefficients. This was used to study the dust ring above the Earth.
- Together with the dean of the Faculty of Physics of ChelSU Sergei Valerievich Taskaev (he is a prominent scientist in the field of crystallography, studying the properties of matter), we found some face-centered objects in the dust we found - an unusual carbon crystal. Perhaps this will lead to a discovery of the same order as gravitational waves, the source of which was recently discovered in Earth's orbit.
Is it important only for scientists?
- If this substance turns out to be twice as hard as diamond, then for all mankind.
It's in space
- We will learn from nature to create the same.
Aliens have collected 900 videos of the meteorite fall.
FRENCH VIDEO CATALOG
What else from the research results will be useful on Earth?
“This is also related to Taskaev’s work,” says Zamozdra. “He is looking for alloys that can be used to make cheap but strong magnets. Scientists from Novosibirsk discovered tetratenite, an alloy of iron and nickel, in the Chelyabinsk meteorite. It is very resistant to magnetization reversal. If humans can create the same alloy, powerful magnets can be produced.
- And we will surpass the Chinese in the end, - adds Dudorov. “They sell permanent magnets, but they are very expensive, and these will be cheap. In addition, tetratenite contains information about the history of the formation of a cosmic body. I'm actually doing star formation. So now there is a unique opportunity when studying a meteorite to get an experimental verification of all our hypotheses.
Have you fully studied it or not?
- Completely impossible, - Dudorov throws up his hands. - More than 800 articles have been published in three years. And a dozen - in super cool world publications. And all the time something new is being discovered. By the way, recently my heart almost stopped. I found out that the French have published a catalog of all videos of a falling car - over 900 videos. I always set up our scientific youth: "Let's collect videos." Not collected. Our foreign colleagues overtook us. This is a very important and unique material. After all, nothing like this will happen again.
BY THE WAY
A planetarium needs to be built in memory of the car
The meteorite brought Chelyabinsk world fame, but in the city itself it has not been immortalized in any way. What architectural ideas must be implemented in his honor? Alexander Dudorov thinks so:
- We once had a wonderful planetarium on the Scarlet Field. By the way, I gave lectures there. Today, many million-plus cities have modern 4D planetariums. I would like the Chelyabinsk authorities to think about it. Our city desperately needs a planetarium. A monument to the meteorite can be installed in front of it.
BTW
The book about the meteorite goes on sale
On February 15, on the anniversary of the landmark event, a presentation of the book "Chelyabinsk Superbolid" was held at ChelSU. It includes research by scientists from ChelSU, CSPU and other teams. The popular scientific edition of 300 pages was prepared by a group of authors, edited by Nikolai Gorkavy and Alexander Dudorov.
The book is well illustrated, it has 80 pages with color photographs. Most of it belongs to South Ural amateur photographers who captured the flight of an alien.
The book "Chelyabinsk Superbolid" includes research by scientists from ChelSU
From the book you can find out many details about the nature of the superbolide and its journey from space to Earth. For example, about the phases of the fall, when it turned from a meteoroid into a fireball, and then into a meteorite. The book will be available soon.
REFERENCE "KP"
How a meteoroid differs from a meteor, and a fireball - from a superbolide
METEOROID is a solid space body ranging in size from fractions of a millimeter to several tens of meters. The intrusion of a meteoroid into the atmosphere leads to its glow - METEOR. A bright meteor is called a BOLID, a very bright one - a SUPERBOLID.
ASTEROID is a predominantly stone (or iron) celestial body of irregular shape and ranging in size from tens of meters to hundreds of kilometers.
COMET is a celestial body of irregular shape and size from tens of meters to tens of kilometers, consisting mainly of frozen gases, dust and small stones.
Lidia SADCHIKOVA
