Meteorite fireball over city. Artwork of a fireball over a city as a large meteoroid (originally a small asteroid) heats up as it passes through Earth

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Meteorite fireball over city. Artwork of a fireball over a city as a large meteoroid (originally a small asteroid) heats up as it passes through Earth's atmosphere. The meteoroid may explode in the air (an airburst), or it may survive to impact the ground as a meteorite. The effect of a large meteorite impact or meteor airburst over a city would be catastrophic, with extensive damage and loss of life. Asteroids that are 30 to 40 metres across are large enough to wipe out a city. Around a million such asteroids exist, though unlike the larger asteroids that could cause global destruction, only a small number of these smaller 'city killers' are being tracked.

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Size: 3780px × 4793px
Photo credit: © JOSE ANTONIO PENAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: airburst, armageddon, artwork, asteroid, atmosphere, blazing, bolide, building, buildings, catastrophe, catastrophic, city, colliding, dangerous, death, destruction, disaster, earth, fatal, fireball, future, futuristic, illustration, impacting, killer, meteor, meteorite, meteoritics, meteoroid, natural, rock, rocky, science, sky, skyscraper, skyscrapers, space, urban, world