YEKATERINBURG, September 27 (RIA Novosti) – Divers have lifted from a Urals lake what they believe to be the biggest fragment so far of the meteorite that exploded over Russia in February, local officials said Friday.
The rock, weighing an estimated 4.8 kg (10.5 lbs), is “the largest [piece] so far” of the meteorite that exploded over the Chelyabinsk Region, said a spokesman for the administration in the region’s town of Chebarkul, where the lake is located.
The second largest piece of the meteorite was found by a local resident in late August and was estimated to weigh 3.4 kilograms (7.5 lbs).
A total of five rocks thought to be fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteorite were brought up to the surface of Lake Chebarkul by divers on Thursday and handed over to scientists for a thorough examination.
Divers have been working to raise a large chunk thought to weigh several hundred kilograms. They are now working at a depth of 16 meters (52 feet) in the lake, where the biggest section of the meteorite is believed to be buried. It was earlier believed that the meteorite was at a depth of 13 meters (43 feet).
The meteorite exploded over Russia on February 15, injuring 1,500 people, mostly from glass shattered by the shockwave. Scientists have said the space rock was a typical chondrite – a stony, non-metallic meteorite.
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