The Sikhote-Alin meteorite crashed to earth during daylight at 10:38 a.m. local time on February 12, 1947. Witnesses, and there were many, reported a fireball that was brighter than the sun. It came from the north, and left trails of smoke and dust 20 miles long, which lingered for hours. The entry speed was estimated at 31,000 miles per hour. As the meteorite entered the atmosphere it began to break apart. When the descending group of meteorites reached an altitude of about 3.5 miles, the largest piece apparently broke up in a violent explosion. The fragments scattered over an elongated area of about a half a square mile. The largest fragments made small craters and pits, one of which measured 85 feet across and 20 feet deep. Sikhote-Alin is one of the most extraordinary falls in history, and one of only a few witnessed iron meteorite falls during the 20th century. I have collected Sikhote for a number of years and now own about 100 of them, the largest being over 200 grams. Almost every Sikhote is extremely beautiful. The strewnfield is now closed to collectors and hunters, though smugglers do, on occasion, manage to raid the area without detection.