Figure 8-37 Meteor (a) This brilliant meteor is seen lighting up the dark desert skies of the California desert area of Joshua Tree National Park. Just to the right of the meteor trail are the Pleiades. (b) A spectacular bolide over Chelyabinsk, Russia. The fireball lasted about 30 seconds, leaving a smoke trail about 400 km (250 mi) across the sky, and (c) its impact with the atmosphere produced a powerful shock wave that shattered over a million square feet of glass, and damaged many buildings such as this zinc plant.