The eyewitnesses saw the bright bolide flying through clouds from southwest to northeast.[2] The falling was accompanied by a bright, blinding flare brighter than solar illumination and a noise similar to rolling thunder. The illumination embraced the area of ca. 2,800 square kilometres (1,100 sq mi).[4] The fall of individual pieces was accompanied by a whistling and drone, resembling that produced by a jet aircraft or missile.[2] The examination of chemical and physical properties of the meteorite was led by Azeri researcher Mirali Qashqai. The meteorite features a sizeable Widmanstätten pattern[5] and an anomalously low amount of tritium. Similar tritium anomalies were detected previously in other iron meteorites.[6]
At the request of American scientists, the Soviet Meteorite Committee sent the meteorite samples to California University, Cambridge Astrophysical Observatory and the Institute for Nuclear Researches of Chicago University, as well as to CERN.[5] One of the samples was preserved in Fersman Mineralogical Museum.[5]