Scientists have concluded that the meteorite that rocked Russia early last year was sent on a collision course with Earth after smacking into another asteroid as long as 290 million years ago. Its estimated that the parent asteroid — a much larger object from which the so-called Chelyabinsk meteor broke off — impacted another asteroid in space at anywhere from 800 to 3,350 miles per hour (1,440 – 5,400 km/h). That second asteroid was at least 500 feet (150m) in diameter, and the impact sent the final 65-foot (20m) wide meteor in Earths direction. The findings come after scientists studied small fragments of the Chelyabinsk meteor that made it through the massive explosion in Earths atmosphere and landed on the ground.
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