The explosion caused by a meteor over the Russian region of Chelyabinsk in February released 30 times more energy than the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bomb, the science magazine Nature reported on Wednesday.
The explosion it created some 30 kilometres above the city of Chelyabinsk was as powerful as 500 kilotons of TNT, a team of scientists wrote in the magazine.
The explosion on February 15 injured about 1,500 people and damaged 7,000 buildings in the city, located some 1,500 kilometres east of Moscow.
“The result reminds us of the damages that such stones can cause.
And much bigger chunks are floating out there,” said Jiri Borovicka, who led the team.