The showcase that covers a fragment of the Chelyabinsk racing car on display at the State Museum of the History of the Southern Urals, in the Russian city that gives its name to the famous meteorite, rose spontaneously last Saturday, leaving the institution’s administration perplexed.
The event happened during public hours, when the glass structure began to rise on its own until it stopped at a height of approximately 10 centimeters.
At first, none of those present noticed it, not even those visitors who were close to the object.
The problem was solved after a security employee noticed the unusual position of the glass.
From the museum they initially expressed ignorance of the causes of what happened, indicating that the system that moves the showcase had not registered any technical problems .
This Wednesday, the director of the institution, Vladimir Bogdanovsky, conjectured that the electronic system that moves the showcase could have been affected by the magnetic field of the celestial body itself or by an external signal.
“The meteorite has a strong magnetic field and perhaps this has somehow affected the electrical components of the lifting mechanism,” said Bogdanovski.
“The other version: a strong electromagnetic signal – or set of these signals – from the outside, which coincided in part with the control panel signal,” he added, specifying that the clarification of what happened will be the task of specialists.
The Chelyabinsk meteorite exploded as it entered the atmosphere on February 15, 2013 at a height of several tens of kilometers over the homonyms Russian region, releasing an energy of approximately 500 kilotons – exceeding more than 30 times the power of the nuclear bomb from Hiroshima— and dropping numerous fragments around the area.
In total, between 4 and 6 tons of meteorites hit the ground, including a 650 kilos fragment later recovered from Lake Cherbakul.
The phenomenon left about 1,500 injured and damaged in almost 7,000 buildings.
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Source: ActualidadRT