CHELYABINSK, RUSSIA - Crews are hurrying to replace more than 2 million square feet of broken glass shattered by a meteor exploding in the stratosphere above Chelyabinsk, Russia Friday morning.
Thousands of people have gone to the city nearly 1,000 miles east of Moscow to assist in the cleanup efforts and replace windows in a city where temperatures in the single digits and teens are common in February.
Authorities in Russia have estimated the damage at 1 billion rubles ($33 million). Latest reports show nearly 1,200 people, including 200 children, being injured in the shock wave from the explosion. Of those 50 remain in area hospitals being treated for cuts and bruises.
Fifty miles to the west of Chelyabinsk, divers explored the bed of Lake Chebarkul in the hopes of finding pieces of the meteorite that smashed through the ice-covered lake, leaving a 20-foot-wide hole in the ice. So far divers have yet to find anything.
NASA said in a statement Friday night that the object was around 10,000 tons and energy from the explosion was equivalent to approximately 500 kilotons. The Hiroshima bomb had a yield of 12-15 kilotons.
Nearly 17,000 miles above the Earth, asteroid 2012DA14 passed by us harmlessly, but stargazers still managed to see stray a few stray meteors in the sky after the asteroid passed.
Thousands of people have gone to the city nearly 1,000 miles east of Moscow to assist in the cleanup efforts and replace windows in a city where temperatures in the single digits and teens are common in February.
Authorities in Russia have estimated the damage at 1 billion rubles ($33 million). Latest reports show nearly 1,200 people, including 200 children, being injured in the shock wave from the explosion. Of those 50 remain in area hospitals being treated for cuts and bruises.
Fifty miles to the west of Chelyabinsk, divers explored the bed of Lake Chebarkul in the hopes of finding pieces of the meteorite that smashed through the ice-covered lake, leaving a 20-foot-wide hole in the ice. So far divers have yet to find anything.
NASA said in a statement Friday night that the object was around 10,000 tons and energy from the explosion was equivalent to approximately 500 kilotons. The Hiroshima bomb had a yield of 12-15 kilotons.
Nearly 17,000 miles above the Earth, asteroid 2012DA14 passed by us harmlessly, but stargazers still managed to see stray a few stray meteors in the sky after the asteroid passed.
Charlotte Ames is the area's only local Health Reporter and brings you the latest medical health news weeknights. You can catch Healthcast on WTAJ News at 5:00pm and her Health Headlines report on WTAJ News at 5:30pm.