Sterlitamak, 1990
An iron meteorite that dug a crater in a farm field.
Key facts
- When
- 17 May 1990, about 11.25 at night local time
- Where
- Near Sterlitamak, Bashkortostan, Russia
- What hit
- an iron meteorite of at least several hundred kilograms
- Era
- Witnessed, 1908 to 1999
- Location
- 53.67° N, 55.98° E
Small by impact standards: enough to blast a 10-metre crater in a field.
A small, rare example of an iron digging its own crater in modern times.
What happened
Late one May night in 1990, a fireball lit up the sky over Bashkortostan in the southern Urals. The next morning, a fresh crater about 10 m across was found in a state farm field, its edges still warm.
Scientists dug into the crater. Small, twisted pieces of iron lay in and around it, and larger fragments were found several metres down. About a year later, the largest piece, weighing 315 kg, was recovered from about 12 m below the surface.
The meteorite, called Sterlitamak, is an iron of group IIIAB.
Effects
The crater and its scattered ejecta were confined to the field. No one was hurt.
The evidence
The fireball reports, the fresh crater and the meteorite fragments excavated from it.
Did you know?
Only a handful of crater-forming meteorite falls have been witnessed in modern times, among them Sikhote-Alin, Sterlitamak and Carancas.
Pieces of Sterlitamak in collections often show a distorted, sheared structure from the violence of the impact.
Related pages
How is impact energy measured? See energy explained, or try the impact calculator.