Shock wave from the asteroid cases mass panic at a Russian University
- Security footage reveals reactions to meteor
- Blast equivalent to 30 Hiroshima bombs
- Black market interest in meteor fragments
- Gallery: The Russian meteor blast
FIRST came confusion as a "second sun" streaked over Russia. Then, 2 minutes 24 seconds later, a city erupted in chaos as the meteor's shockwave struck.
The meteor - which injured nearly 1500 people and caused widespread property damage in Chelyabinsk city - was the largest recorded space rock to hit Earth since the 'Tunguska event' more than a century ago. Health officials said 46 of the injured remain hospitalised.
This collection of security camera footage from in and around central Russia on Friday shows curious and awestruck spectators swarming to windows to see the cause of the strange, blinding flash. Few expected the long delay before a sonic blast-wave shattered windows, tore doors off hinges and sent people running.
The meteor has since started something of a gold-rush with fragments generating strong black market interest.
Residents of nearby towns have been rushing out into the snow in the hunt for the tell-tale small holes that mark the presence of the precious objects.
Sales offers already are filling the Internet, and police are warning all purchasers to prepare for possible fraud.
A woman leaves a shop with a broken window in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Picture: Boris Kaulin
As workers continue replacing acres of broken glass worth an estimated $33 million, NASA has revealed the 10,000 ton meteor released 500 kilotons of energy - the equivalent to more than 30 Hiroshima bombs - when it exploded over Chebarkul Lake in Russia's Ural Mountains.
It was first sighted 6500km away, over Alaska, and burnt through the atmosphere for some 32.5 seconds.
The blast showered the ground with thousands of small fragments and left a six-meter-wide hole in the ice covering the lake.
Scientists from Urals Federal University say initial results show the remains, mostly less than a centimetre in size, belong to the condrite type of meteor which contains about 10 per cent iron.
"We would expect an event of this magnitude to occur once every 100 years on average," said Paul Chodas of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office.
In this photo distributed by the Urals Federal University Press Service a researcher examines pieces of a meteorite in a laboratory in Yekaterinburg.
"When you have a fireball of this size we would expect a large number of meteorites to reach the surface and in this case there were probably some large ones."
With agencies
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