The Russian Geographical Society said the passing of the meteor over Chelyabinsk caused three blasts of different energy . The first explosion was the most powerful , and was preceded by a bright flash , which lasted about five seconds . Initial newspaper altitude estimates ranged from with an explosive equivalent , according to NASA , of roughly , although there is some debate on this yield ( 500 kt is exactly the same energy released by the Ivy King nuclear explosion in 1952 ) . According to a paper in 2013 , all these ~ 500 kiloton yield estimates for the meteor airburst are " uncertain by a factor of two because of a lack of calibration data at those high energies and altitudes " . <!-- NOTE: The following text is being sidelined/removed as it is possibly OR, or at least highly inaccurate, Google translate converts the title of the attached Russian headline to: "Meteorite flying over Chelyabinsk accompanied by three explosions ranging from 1 to 10 kilotons", which contradicts the text, and is again very low to the real radiated energy: --> The hypocentre of the explosion was to the south of Chelyabinsk , in Yemanzhelinsk and Yuzhnouralsk . Due to the height of the air burst , the atmosphere absorbed most of the explosion 's energy . The explosion 's blast wave first reached Chelyabinsk and environs between less than 2 minutes 23 seconds and 2 minutes 57 seconds later . The object did not release all of its kinetic energy in the form of a blast wave as some 90 kilotons of TNT of the total energy of the main airburst 's fireball was emitted as visible light according to NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , and two main fragments survived the primary airburst disruption at ; they flared around , with one falling apart at and the other remaining luminous down to , with part of the meteoroid continuing on its general trajectory to punch a hole in the frozen Lake Chebarkul , an impact that was fortuitously captured on camera and released in November 2013
Ivy King
Ivy King
Chelyabinsk meteor