Chelyabinsk Meteorite Had Previous Collision or Near-Miss

Fragment of Chelyabinsk meteor currently being analyzed for mineral composition and signs of previous melting. Credit: Victor Sharygin. The meteor that starred in a thousand and one tweets as it shot across the Siberian sky last February apparently had a rough history. The Chelyabinsk meteor, estimated to have been 55-65 feet in diameter before breaking up, may have had previous fiery encounters — either colliding into another body in the solar system or traveling too close to the Sun — before its spectacular crash to Earth, according to analysis of fragments from its crust and interior.