Chelyabinsk meteor fragment. In the morning of the 15th of February 2013, a near-Earth asteroid entered the atmosphere over Russia. Travelling at around 19 kilometres per second (almost 60 times the speed of sound), the meteor became a superbolide (fireball) giving off intense heat, and light stronger than the sun. The fragments that did not disintegrate in the atmosphere landed in Chelyabinsk Oblast, in the Ural region of Russia. The impact shockwave left a trail of damage 89 kilometres either side of the meteor's trajectory.