REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesia's National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) said the meteorite hit in central Russia on Friday morning was probably an asteroid. "But it is not 2012 DA14 asteroid. This kind of asteroid is small," Professor of Astrophysics and Astronomy Research at LAPAN, Thomas Djamaluddin, said on Friday.
The meteorite crashed in Russia was bigger than the meteorite exploded in October 8, 2009, he added. He explained that it usually appeared every 12 years.
"This meteorite does not release effect and reaction even for long term condition," he said. The effect only came out when it crashed.
More than 1000 people were injured when the meteorite exploded in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and sent fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings. A fireball blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away in Yekaterinburg.
A local ministry official said such incidents were extremely rare and Friday's events might have been linked to an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool due to pass Earth at a distance of 27,520 km (17,100 miles).
Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the meteorite was travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second and that such events were hard to predict. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion had caused a sonic boom.
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