Meteors are falling down suddenly, at any time and in any place of the globe. Their decline is always accompanied by a very strong light and sound effects. Across the sky at this time, in seconds passes very large and bright bolide. If a meteor falls in the afternoon at the cloudless sky and bright sun light, the car is not always visible. However, after his flight in the sky still like the smoke Curling trail, and the place of disappearance car appears dark cloud.

The car, as we already know, appears because in the earth's atmosphere comes from the interplanetary space meteor body - stone. If it has great size and weigh hundreds of pounds, but fails entirely wasted in the atmosphere. The remainder of the body falls to earth as a meteorite. Hence, it is not always after flying car can be a meteorite fall. But, on the contrary, the fall of each of the meteorite is always preceded by flying car.

Having flown in earth's atmosphere with a speed of 15 to 20 km per second, meteor body is already at the height of 100 to 120 km above the Earth meets strong resistance of the air. The air before meteor body instantly compressed and therefore heated, formed by the so-called "airbag". The body itself is heated from the surface very much, to a temperature of several thousand degrees. At this point, is a prominent flying across the sky car.

While the car is travelling at high speed in the atmosphere, a substance on its surface melted from the heat, boils, turns into gas and partially sprayed tiniest drops. Meteor body continuously decreases, it melts.

From evaporating and razbryzgivanija particles formed trace remaining after flying car. But the body with its movement is adjudged to be in the lower, denser layer of the atmosphere where the air more and more slows its movement. Finally, at the height of about 10-20 km above the earth's surface, the body loses its space velocity. If it gets bogged down in the air. This part of the road called the delay. Meteor body becomes warm and glowing. The remainder of it, not had time to fully grasp it, falls to the Ground under the influence of gravity, as ordinary thrown stone.

Meteorites falling very often. Probably every day somewhere in the world is falling a few meteorites. However, most of them falling into the seas and oceans, polar regions, deserts and other populated areas, remain not found. Only a small number of meteorites, on average 4 - 5 per year, is becoming known to people. Around the globe still bernidino about 1600 meteorites: 125 of them were found in our country.

Almost always meteorites, passing with cosmic speed in the earth's atmosphere, not withstand the enormous pressure exerted on them in the air, and split into many pieces. In these cases, the Land falls usually not one, but several tens or even hundreds and thousands of fragments that form the so-called meteor rain.

The fallen meteorite is only warm or hot, but not hot, as many people think. This is because a meteorite passes through the earth's atmosphere within just a few seconds. In such a short time, he has no time to warm up and inside remains as cold as it was, and interplanetary space. So meteorites falling on Earth can cause a fire, even if they accidentally fall on easily-up items.

Meteorite enormous size, weighing hundreds of thousands of tons, can't slow down in the air. With great speed greater than 4 to 5 km/s, it will hit the Ground. When struck by a meteor instantly warm to such high temperatures that sometimes can completely turn into a glowing gas that with great power will flow in all directions and will produce an explosion. On a place of falling of a meteorite crater formed the so - called meteorite crater, and from a meteorite will only small pieces, scattered around the crater.

In different places of the globe found many meteorite craters. They all formed in the distant past when the fall of a giant meteorite. A huge meteorite crater, called the Arizona or "the devil's Gorge"is in the USA. Its diameter is equal to 1200 m, and the depth of 170 meters Around the crater was able to collect thousands of small pieces of iron meteorite weighing about 20 Tons But, of course, the weight of the meteorite that fell and exploded here was many times more; according to scientists, he reached many thousands tons. The largest crater discovered in 1950 in Canada; the diameter of its 3600 m, however, to address the question of the origin of this giant crater need further research. On the morning of 30 June 1908 in Siberian taiga dropped a giant meteorite. It was called Tungus, as the place of the meteorite fall was not far from the river Podkamennaya Tunguska. In the fall of the meteorite throughout Central Siberia was seen large bright bolide, flying from the South-East to North-West. After a few minutes after he fled the car, there was a huge shock strength, and then he heard a loud roar and rumble. In many villages in the Windows was broken glass from the shelves fell tableware. Strokes similar to explosions were heard in the distance more than 1000 km from the place of the meteorite fall.

To study this meteorite scientists began after the October revolution. For the first time only in 1927 on a place of falling of a meteorite penetrated researcher of the Academy of Sciences of L. A. Kulik. On rafts on spilled in the spring of the taiga rivers Kulik accompanied by guides, Evenks slipped into "land of the dead forest", as this area was called Evenks after the fall of the meteorite. Here on the vast area with a radius of 25 - 30 km, Kulik found a fallen forest. Trees on all the high places were lying twisted roots, forming a huge fan around the site of a meteorite. Several expeditions conducted by Kulik, investigated the crash site of a meteorite. Were produced aerial Central part of the area of flattened forest and excavation of several pits, which at first mistaken for a meteor crater. Fragments of the Tunguska meteorite were not found. It is possible that during the explosion of the Tunguska meteorite completely turned into a gas and no significant pieces of it will be left.

In the summer of 1957, the Russian scientist A. A. Yavnel investigated soil samples delivered L. A. Kulik from the area of the meteorite fall back in 1929 - 1930 In these soil samples were found tiny particles of the Tunguska meteorite.

In a quiet frosty morning on 12 February 1947, blindingly bright fireball - car - rapidly swept against the blue sky over the Russian Maritime territory. Deafening noise was heard after his disappearance. A door opened in homes, flew with a crash, the shards of broken glass fell from the ceiling plaster, topolsica furnaces were thrown out the flames with ash and firewood. Animals rushed in panic. In heaven after flying a ball of fire appeared huge, like a smoke trail in a broad band. Soon the trail began to bend and, as a fairy huge serpent, has swept across the sky. Gradually weak and torn into separate pieces, the trail disappeared only in the evening.

All these phenomena were caused by the fall huge iron meteorite, called the Sikhote-Alin (he fell in the Western spurs of the Sikhote-Alin). For four years the Committee on meteorites of the Academy of Sciences studied the fall of the meteorite and the collection of its parts. Meteorite in vozduhorazdelenija into a thousand pieces and fell meteor shower on the area of several square kilometers. The largest part - "drop" iron rain - weighed several tons.

On the place of the meteorite was found 200 meteorite craters with diameters from tens of centimeters to about 28 M. The largest crater has a depth of 6 m, it could fit two-storey house.

The participants of the expedition for all the works collected and removed from the taiga over 7000 meteorite fragments weighing about 23 So The larger pieces weigh 1745, 700, 500, 450 and 350 kg

Now in the Committee on meteorites are thoroughly scientific processing of all the collected material. The analysis of the chemical composition of meteorite substance, studying its structure, and the situation of the fall of the meteorite shower and traffic conditions meteoroids in the earth's atmosphere.