Russian Meteorite Recovered? 570Kg 'Space Rock' Pulled From Lake After February Explosion (VIDEO)

Russian Meteorite Recovered?

A half-ton rock pulled out of a lake in Russia might be a chunk of the meteorite which exploded over Chelyabinsk earlier this year.

Scientists said that the 570kg rock, hoisted from the depths of Lake Chebarkul, could be the largest piece of the meteorite yet recovered.

The rock plunged into Earth's atmosphere on 15 February, creating a shockwave which injured up to 1,000 people.

The rock was said to be as large as 10,000 tonnes when it started to burn up, though only much smaller pieces of the 17m asteroid eventually hit the Earth.

Footage from Russian TV showed divers pulling out the 1.5-metre chunk from the lake, after wrapping it in a metallic protective cover.

The BBC reports that the weighing operation "quickly went wrong" and that the rock broke into three pieces before the scales themselves came to grief, smashing under the weight of the rock.

The footage of the recovery operation was broadcast on the 24-hour Vesti 24 news channel.

Experts said that it was unlikely they could confirm the rock's extraterrestrial origins for some time, however - and cautioned that of the 12 rocks pulled from the lake since the incident, only "four or five" had turned out to be from space. If it does turn out to be real, let's hope they have something more scientific in mind than the brewers who made a beer from moon dust.

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