When Does an Asteroid Become a Meteor?

EARTH — NASA has been watching an asteroid, Asteroid 2012 DA14, fly near Earth; however, they missed another asteroid that became a meteor in Russia. An asteroid when it enters the Earth’s atmosphere. Usually, they burn up upon entry. Not this time.

A Russian health official estimated 1,000 people were injured when a 10 ton meteor exploded in the sky. A resident said, “There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people’s houses to check if they were OK. We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound.”

The sonic boom shattered 1,000,000 square feet of glass.

NASA says, “”According to NASA scientists, the trajectory of the Russian meteorite was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, making it a completely unrelated object. Information is still being collected about the Russian meteorite and analysis is preliminary at this point. In videos of the meteor, it is seen to pass from left to right in front of the rising sun, which means it was traveling from north to south. Asteroid DA14’s trajectory is in the opposite direction, from south to north.”

This entry was posted in Education, Science, Space and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
  • Categories

  • Archives

Created by: Daniel Brouse and Sidd
All text, sights and sounds © BROUSE
"You must not steal nor lie nor defraud."