When A Meteorite Hits Snow It Forms A “Snow Carrot” Instead Of A Crater

After the Chelyabinsk bolide, a number of small pebble-sized chunks were found in the snow. These hit at whatever the terminal velocity of a pebble would be… probably safely subsonic, the smaller, the slower. The region was blanketed with a thick layer of snow at the time. When the chunk hit the snow, they created unusual formations of denser, more structurally-solid snow dubbed “snow carrots.” Nobody had seen this before, and nobody knew how it was done, so, as was the style of the time, detailed computer simulations were performed to replicate the process. Me, I woulda just shot pebbles into snow, but I’m old-school that way.