Much more extraterrestrial material falls from space to the earth's surface than is commonly thought. Cosmic dust, the smallest particles of which are filtered by the atmosphere, falls on the Earth annually about one million tons. In addition to her, every year up to 500 (other scientists call the number 1000) meteorites weighing from a few grams to a kilogram fall to the ground.
Observing the rapidly fading blue lines in the night sky, people in ancient times tried to understand what it is. “Falling stars,” some said. "The souls of the righteous dead," others said. "Heavenly stones" - assured others. This was the case hundreds and thousands of years ago, and it is happening now. For example, among the aborigines of the Great Sandy Desert, in North-Western Australia, the "Corrobori" rite has survived to this day. Here you can often watch meteorites fall. Like a laser beam, they shine through the black starry sky. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Aborigines, whose ancestors slept under this sky for five thousand years before the arrival of the Europeans, had a belief in the "heroes of heaven." To perform the ceremony, they lubricate their skin with a special pigment that glows on their black bodies, like a meteorite plume on a dark sky. And dances and songs return the inhabitants of the desert to those distant times when the "heroes of heaven" descended to earth. In their ritual songs, the aborigines turn to the surrounding hills, rocks and springs, into which (as they believe) the spirits descended from the stars were reincarnated.
Sometimes behind the meteorite there is not a long strip stretching among the stars, but a wide fiery-smoky trail, which, in addition, had a bright "head" and a narrower "tail". Often such events awakened imagination, became the basis of legends, legends and tales about the Serpent Gorynych or the Dragon, because the fall of meteorites is often accompanied by fire, roar, sometimes even the earth shakes. This caused surprise, and even more fear, gave rise to a superstitious horror in man before the wrath of the gods, throwing stones as punishment on Earth. Therefore, it is not surprising that from time immemorial, heavenly stones have become objects of worship. They were carefully preserved, they were placed in the graves of the rulers as a sign of wealth and power.
In December 856, according to the stories of the Middle Eastern chronicles, five stones (meteorites) fell from the sky in Egypt, Suweida. One of them landed in a Bedouin tent and set it on fire. One of the stones weighed over four kilograms. Four meteorites were then brought to Cairo, and one to Tinnis.
In Russia, meteorites are first mentioned in the Laurentian Chronicle, where, under the year 1091, it is written: “In the same summer … the recession is great serpent from heaven; horrified all people. At the same time, the earth will knock, as if I hear it. " And Pliny the Elder wrote in his "Natural History" back in 77 AD: "But that stones often fall to the ground, no one will doubt this."
However, they doubted! And even back in 1772, at a meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, a verdict was passed on meteorites: “As you know, there are no stones in the sky and cannot be. Therefore, any news that they are falling from there is deliberately false."
Scientists say that no casualties can be attributed to meteorites or other celestial bodies. The only reliable case when a celestial body caused injury occurred in 1946 on a small farm in Arizona (USA). A meteorite measuring ten centimeters in size, flew in through the window, hit the woman in the side, giving her a big bruise. A photograph of this woman and her bruise has been published in picture magazines almost all over the world and has even appeared in the Geological Encyclopedia.
True, there are stories about more serious consequences, but they are not well proven. In 1511, two people were allegedly killed in Milan, and in 1906 in Mexico, a meteorite allegedly killed a general of the rebel army. But, we repeat, these stories are not supported by any evidence. But the incident that took place in April 1990 in the Dutch town of Enschede can be classified as funny. It is not without reason that the police called in thought that it would be wiser to inform the academicians about him.
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One day a bell rang at the police station and an agitated citizen reported that a meteorite had fallen on a nearby house. Many have heard the sound and seen the luminous trail. The police went to the indicated address and found a hole about thirty centimeters in diameter in the tiled roof. At that moment, the owners of the house returned from the cinema and, together with the police, discovered a second hole in the ceiling of their bedroom - right above the marital bed.
There are thousands of small craters from falling meteorites on the ground, because, as mentioned above, the Earth receives parcels from the Universe every day - in the amount of about thirty kilograms. These particles and fragments of stone and ice most often burn up when entering the Earth's atmosphere. People call them shooting stars, making wishes, until a luminous heavenly messenger goes out in the night sky. But if such a star reaches the Earth, it is still better to stay away from the place where it was aimed.
For example, the Manicuegan crater in Quebec (Canada) is 64 kilometers in diameter. As it has already been completely established by soil analysis, here, about 210 million years ago, a meteorite fell, which already in our century was named Lucifer. The name is very expressive for his destructive actions: he destroyed all the flora and fauna for hundreds of kilometers around. In Germany, there is a crater 25 kilometers in diameter, formed from the fall of a meteorite, which was named the Nordic Giant. Scientists believe that an explosion thundered here many millions of years ago, 200,000 times exceeding in its destructive power the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
In 1930, cutting through the Brazilian sky, three fireballs fell into the depths of the Amazon jungle. This was followed by three powerful tremors, and a huge cloud of dust was formed, which for a long time obscured the entire sky. Hundreds of Indian peasants, fishermen and rubber collectors watched all this.
On a fine sunny morning on February 12, 1947, the artist P. I. Medvedev painted a sketch in the foothills of the Sikhote-Alin ridge in the Primorsky Territory. Suddenly (at 10 hours 38 minutes) in the northern part of the sky, in broad daylight, a bright star appeared, which rushed rapidly across the sky. Then it turned into a blindingly bright fireball, then stretched out and, leaving behind a swirling and expanding dust trail, disappeared behind the hills. This lasted only 6-7 seconds, but during this time there was a roar three times, similar to explosions.
A few minutes after the disappearance of the heavenly wanderer, strong blows were heard from behind the hills - as if they were firing from heavy weapons. The blows gave way to a rumble, and then a rumble, repeated echoes. Realizing that he had witnessed the fall of a meteorite, the artist hastily began to draw on the canvas the miracle he had just seen. The "smoky" trail in the sky remained throughout the day, gradually curving and changing shape repeatedly. He disappeared only in the evening.
The flight of the meteorite was seen by thousands of people at a distance of up to three hundred kilometers, and explosions, impacts and rumbles were heard even further away. Along the line of movement of the fiery body in houses, doors were thrown open, glass flew out, plaster fell from the ceilings, ash flew out of the stoves and flames were swept out. A current appeared in the disconnected power line for a moment. Animals whinnied, bellowed, barked, torn from the leash …
The absence of casualties does not mean that humanity is completely protected from the danger from meteorites. More recently, in March 1989, a very large meteorite swept past the Earth at a speed of 70,000 kilometers per hour. The mad fugitive from the asteroid belt of the solar system had monstrous destructive power. If he fell to the Earth, then a crater with a width of at least 15 kilometers would form; and if it fell into the ocean, it would raise a multi-meter wave.
HUNDRED GREAT DISASTERS. N. A. Ionina, M. N. Kubeev