7. SIKHOTE ALIN — RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES FRAGMENT
IIAB
Maritime Territory, Siberia, Russia
Fell February 12, 1947 / TKW: 23 tons
The main mass of the Sikhote Alin event created a fireball brighter than the Sun when it sailed over Siberia’s Sikhote-Alin Mountains. The shockwaves from the low-altitude explosion which followed collapsed chimneys, shattered windows and uprooted trees. Sonic booms were heard more than 300 kilometers away and a 33-kilometer long smoke trail lingered in the sky for hours. To some witnesses, it appeared as if the sky itself was on fire. A famous painting of the event by eye-witness P. I. Medvedev was issued as a stamp by the Soviet government in 1957 to commemorate what many thought was the end of the world. There are two types of Sikhote-Alin meteorites: the gently scalloped specimens that broke free of the main mass in the upper atmosphere and the jagged and twisted sharpnel that resulted from the described low-altitude explosion. This specimen is an example of the latter and is testament to the explosive force from which it originates. From one of the most massive meteorite showers since the dawn of civilization, three labels (“3506”) from what was the Soviet Academy of Sciences are affixed to the meteorite’s oxidized surface.
42 x 57 x 23mm (1.66 x 2.25 x 1 inch) and 172.7 grams (0.33 lbs)
Provenance:
Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Estimate $1,400 – 1,800 * No Reserve