Russian divers recovered suspected half-tonne chunk of the meteorite that blasted over the Chelyabinsk region of Russia eight months ago, which is said the be the biggest chunk recovered from the Russian lake.
According to video report posted on Reuters, the part of the meteorite that exploded over the Ural Mountains of Russia in February was recovered at Lake Chebarkul at a depth of approximately 42 feet.
Andrei Kocherov of Chelyabinsk University said that the recovered rock will still undergo thorough examination, but if it will be based on the more than 500-kilogram weight of the rock, he is quite sure that it is from the meteorite that hit the region, which left more than 1,200 people injured last February 15th.
"If it weighs more than 500 kilograms then the object is unique in itself and is likely to be one of the biggest meteorites ever found," Kocherov said. "The initial visual survey which we are talking about now doesn't give us 100% certainty, we still need to conduct more research, a structural analysis and other tests."
AFP also reported that experts will still need to figure whether or not the recovered rock really came from outer space. Since the incident, more than 12 pieces of alleged meteorite chunks were found, but only 80 percent of it were real parts of the meteorite.
But like Kocherov's initial assessment, Dr Caroline Smith, a London Natural History Museum curator of meteorites said that she can concluded that the chunk was indeed from a meteorite due to the presence of fusion curst and regmaglypts that were clearly visible from the images.
"Fusion crust forms as the meteoroid is travelling through the atmosphere as a fireball," Smith said in a BBC News interview. "The outer surface gets so hot it melts the rock to form a dark, glassy surface crust which we term a fusion crust. Regmaglypts are the indentations that look a bit like thumbprints, also seen on the surface of the meteorite."
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