3 Meteorites from 2013 Chelyabinsk Explosion Over Russia, for Sale

A fragments of the Feb. 15, 2013, Russian meteorite will hit the auction block this month.

Credit: Heritage Auctions

When a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15, 2013, many of world's most avid meteorite collectors were gathered on the other side of the world, in Arizona, at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.

"A lot of the meteorite guys were scrambling to leave the show early to go to Russia," said Craig Kissick of Heritage Auctions.

This month, Heritage Auctions is selling three pieces of the Chelyabinsk space rock as part of its latest natural history sale.



The meteor blast produced a shockwave that shattered windows and injured more than 1,000 people in Chelyabinsk region.

Scientists who have analyzed samples of the Chelyabinsk meteorite have said it appears to be an ordinary chondrite, the most common type of meteorite found on Earth.

"I wouldn't consider it that attractive," Kissick said, but the fragments have stirred up interest among collectors because they are tied to the biggest meteorite blast in more than a century, and perhaps the most witnessed one on record.

Opening bids for the three Chelyabinsk meteorite fragments start at $500, $2,500 and $4,000. The sale will take place on Sept. 28 at Heritage Auction's Nature and Science Signature Auction in Dallas, Texas.

Chelyabinsk meteorite part of much bigger celestial body

The Chelyabinsk meteorite that exploded on February 15, 2013, in the Chelyabinsk area was part of a bigger celestial body and came off it as a result of the impact.

The statement was published on a website called Scientific Reports after a team of scientists, including Russians, conducted research.

The scientists studied the chemical composition of the meteorite's fragments and found out that they contain jade.

This mineral is formed under high pressure and temperature, scientists say.

They also say that the form of the jade fragments show that they were formed as a result of a collision of two asteroids.

The asteroid, from which the meteorite came off, was at least 7,500 inches in diameter. The scientists are still ascertaining the trajectory of the both asteroids. They think that the collision occurred 250 million years ago.

"The impact could cut off the Chelyabinsk meteorite from a bigger celestial body and direct it to the Earth."

"This is a body from the circumterrestrial space that struck against the Earth and its trajectory has been studied well," Sin Ozawa from Tohoku University said.

The scientists think that the newly discovered data will help them foresee, whether particular celestial bodies can hit the Earth.

The team also comprised Russian scientists from Novosibirsk State University, Mineralogical Institute of the RAS Ural department and V.S. Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy of the Siberian Branch of the RAS.

The Chelyabinsk area saw an explosion of a meteorite on February 15, 2013. The flash of the explosion was seen by the citizens of the Tyumen, the Sverdlovsk, the Kurgan areas and the Republic of Bashkortostan.

The meteorite was 680 inches in diameter, weighted 10,000 tons and its speed was 6-18 miles per second.

More than 1,500 people suffered as a result of the explosion; the only such case in history.

Later, in October, the biggest fragment of the meteorite, weighting 1,430 pounds, was recovered from the bottom of Lake Chebarkul.

Lake Chebarkul