Meteorite chunks create "snow carrots" in Russia

Only 0.02% of last year's huge Chelyabinsk Meteor was ever recovered --- most of it vaporized or scattered into unrecoverable particles --- but scientists are still learning from it. For example: When hot meteorite fragments hit snow, they melt a vertical shaft or tunnel to the ground. The melted walls of the shaft re-freeze, and the resulting ice wall is denser than the surrounding snow. When the lighter snow melts, the harder-to-melt ice shaft is temporarily left behind as a hollow, standing cylinder. http://space.io9.com/when-a-meteorite-hits-snow-it-forms-a-snow-carrot-ins-1692259034 More: "The February meteor blast over central Russia glowed 30 times brighter than the sun, sunburned observers, and delivered the biggest astronomical punch felt on Earth in a century, report scientists. "'Not just the windows were broken, but the window frames were pushed in, in the buildings,' said Jenniskens in a Science podcast. 'The [shockwave] was so strong that it was able to topple over people standing.' --- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131106-russian-meteor-chelyabinsk-airburst-500-kilotons/ http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2015/03/22/NASA-data-reveals-mysteries-of-meteor-that-struck-Chelyabinsk-Russia-in-2013/7841427058724/#ixzz3VDKONWoN http://space.io9.com/heres-everything-we-know-about-the-chelyabinsk-meteor-1637134445