Message #19192

[Bianca]

4. The Interception of the Meteorite



The interception of the meteorite was accomplished by a "terminator" striking it from above to reduce its original speed sharply. This released a colossal amount of energy that, combined with the energy of the "terminator", literally melted the substance of the meteorite.
In the correspondent's report by S. Kulesh, published in the Irkutsk-based newspaper Sibir on 2 July (old style) 1908, we read:
On the morning of 17 (30) June in the village of Nizhne-Kerelinskoye (some 200 versts [215 km] north of Kirensk) the peasants saw to the north-west, quite high above the horizon, some body glowing with a bluish-white light of exceptional strength (you could not keep your eyes on it), moving downwards for ten minutes... Having approached the ground (forest), the glowing body seemed to melt. An immense cloud of black smoke formed in its place and an exceptionally loud noise (not thunder) was heard, as if of falling stones or cannon-fire. All the buildings shook. At the same time, flame of indeterminate shape began to burst from the cloud...




Here is the account of S. B. Semionov, who was in the village of Vanavara, 100 kilometres from the disaster site:


...Suddenly, to the north, the sky spilt apart and in it fire appeared, broad and high above the trees, encompassing the whole northern part of the sky. At that point I felt as hot as if my shirt had caught fire on me. I wanted to shout out and tear my shirt off, but at that moment [the sky] slammed shut and there was a tremendous bang. I was hurled about three sagens across the ground. At the moment when the sky opened, past the houses tore a hot wind, as if from a cannon, leaving marks on the ground in the form of tracks and damaging the full-grown onions. Then it turned out that many panes had been broken in the windows and the iron hasp on the barn door was broken...
P. P. Kosolapov, who was right by Semionov at the time, felt his ears burning, although he did not notice any light phenomena. Fifty kilometres from the explosion site, people's clothing smouldered from the unbearable heat that suddenly flooded over them from somewhere in the cold taiga. Sixty kilometres away, no-one could keep on their feet. Six hundred kilometres away, the flash outshone the sun.