Astronomy & Astrophysics 585, A90 (2016)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201526680
A catalog of video records of the 2013 Chelyabinsk superbolide*
J. Borovička1, L.
Shrbený1, P. Kalenda2, N. Loskutov3,
P.
Brown4, P. Spurný1, W. Cooke5,
R. Blaauw6, D. E. Moser7, and A. Kingery8
1Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of
Sciences,
25165 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
2Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the Czech
Academy of
Sciences, V Holešovičkách 41, 18209 Praha 8, Czech Republic
3OOO “RC PLINOR”, Shushary, Pushkinskaya 12, 196626 Saint
Petersburg,
Russia
4Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western
Ontario,
London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada
5Meteoroid Environments Office, EV44, Space Environment
Team, Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812, USA
6All points/Jacobs ESSSA Group, NASA Marshall Space Flight
Center,
Huntsville, Alabama 35812, USA
7Jacobs/Jacobs ESSSA Group, NASA Marshall Space Flight
Center,
Huntsville, Alabama 35812, USA
8ERC Incorporated/Jacobs ESSSA Group, NASA Marshall Space
Flight
Center, Huntsville, Alabama 35812, USA
Abstract. The Chelyabinsk superbolide of February 15, 2013, was
caused by the atmospheric entry of a ~19 m asteroid with a kinetic
energy of 500 kT TNT just south of the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. It
was a rare event; impacts of similar energy occur on the Earth only a
few times per century. Impacts of this energy near such a large urban
area are expected only a few times per 10 000 years. A number of video
records obtained by casual eyewitnesses, dashboard cameras in cars,
security, and traffic cameras were made publicly available by their
authors on the Internet. These represent a rich repository for future
scientific studies of this unique event. To aid researchers in the
archival study of this airburst, we provide and document a catalog of
960 videos showing various aspects of the event. Among the video
records are 400 distinct videos showing the bolide itself and 108
videos showing the illumination caused by the bolide. Other videos show
the dust trail left in the atmosphere, the arrival of the blast wave on
the ground, or the damage caused by the blast wave. As these video
recordings have high scientific, historical, and archival value for
future studies of this airburst, a systematic documentation and
description of records is desirable. Many have already been used for
scientific analyses. We give the exact locations where 715 videos were
taken as well as details of the visible/audible phenomena in each video
recording. An online version of the published catalog has been
developed and will be regularly updated to provide a long–term database
for investigators.
Key words. meteorites, meteors,
meteoroids
*An online version of the catalog is available at http://meteor.asu.cas.cz/Chelyabinsk/
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