On Feb. 15, a flaming meteorite streaked through the sky and hit the ground in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia in the Ural Mountains. According to CNN, the explosion blew the glass out of windows in the vicinity and injured more than 1,500 people in its damage to buildings and from flying glass.
CNN also reported that the European Space Agency stated that “events of the magnitude of the Chelyabinsk meteor blast are expected once every several of tens to 100 years.” Speaking to the unusualness of this event, Dr. David Cole, professor of Chemistry, said it is rare for very large meteoroids to make it to Earth.
“Most meteoroids are smaller bits of rock and metal that are burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Cole said. “Most of the few that do enter the Earth’s atmosphere are either burned up or break up high in the atmosphere.”
Reports from CNN and other sources said that this meteorite exploded in the air only 50 miles above the surface of Earth, which is what caused the high energy release that measured at 500 kilotons. The atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima released an estimated 15 kilotons of energy.
Since the explosion, there have been talks of the importance of having software that can detect meteorites and asteroids before they hit. Interior Minister Vladimir Puchkov was quoted to have said, “I believe that this emergency situation will push us towards generating new resources, approaches and ideas in tackling this serious problem.”
Cole said that with current technology, he believes it is likely that there could be detection resources in the future that would help deflect or destroy large objects headed toward Earth, but that he thinks that there could be more beneficial uses of these resources.
“I think the bigger benefit is knowing approximately when and where such an object might hit the Earth, assuming it could be known precisely enough and far enough ahead of time to allow people to evacuate,” Cole said.
As scientists continue to collect pieces of the meteorite scattered throughout the area in Russia, they will learn more about where it came from and how old it was.
