The Story of a Huge Asteroid That Exploded Over Russia Without Warning

On the morning of February 15, 2013, people in and around Chelyabinsk, Russia, saw the sky suddenly turn brighter than expected. A space rock had entered Earth’s atmosphere without warning, streaking across the sky before exploding high above the region.

The event became one of the most important modern lessons in planetary defence. The asteroid was not big enough to be easily detected before impact, but it was powerful enough to shatter windows, damage buildings and injure hundreds of people across a wide area. NASA later described it as a blinding flash, a loud sonic boom and shattered glass everywhere.