A meteor blast over Russia’s Chelyabinsk region has reportedly left hundreds injured. Many Russians watched in fear and shock–some wondering if the world was ending–as the meteorites streaked across the sky, damaging buildings and breaking windows.
The space object weighed in at about 10 tons prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere, where it entered at about 33,000 mph then exploded in the stratosphere. Experts working at the place of impact said that the fragments are “most likely solid,” consisting “of rock and iron.”
NASA reported that the Russian meteorite was of a “significantly different trajectory” than the asteroid 2012 DA14, and is thus, “a completely unrelated object.” Asteroid 2012 DA14 is set to flyby Earth on Friday, Feb. 15th and is the closest recorded approach to Earth for an object of its size. NASA will be live streaming asteroid commentary beginning at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday.
Watch footage from the ground below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b0cRHsApzt8
Ali Vitali is MS NOW's senior congressional correspondent and the host of "Way Too Early." She is the author of "Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet."