Russian Meteor Shockwave 'Travelled Twice Around The World' Says Report

Russian Meteor Shockwave 'Travelled Twice Around The World' Says Report
AP

The meteor which injured more than 1,000 people when it exploded above a town in Russia earlier this year created a shockwave which traveled twice around the world, scientists have said.

The 10,000 tonne asteroid exploded over Chelyabinsk in February.

The explosion was captured in dramatic footage mainly recorded by cameras installed in cars around the town.

But it was also recorded by the system of sensors placed around the world by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty organisation, the International Monitoring System (IMS) network, which is designed to look for nuclear tests.

According to the network, the explosion was the most powerful event yet recorded, and the shockwaves travelled at least twice around the entire globe.

The study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters said the explosion was equivalent to 460 kilotonnes of TNT - the largest event since another meteor exploded in Siberia in 1908.

Several efforts to track and potentially predict meteorite impacts have been set up in the wake of the explosion, but the job remains dauntingly vast.

Nasa said yesterday that it had recorded the 10,000th near-Earth object flying dangerously close to our planet - and that figure does not include many small asteroids that are still larger than the 17m rock which hit Chelyabinsk.

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