Russian meteor sparks local interest

AUSTIN (KXAN) - It’s been an exciting day at The University of Texas Center for Space Research especially for planetary scientists like Joe Hahn .

"I was amazed -- I've never seen anything like it," said Joe Hahn, UT research scientist.

He’s talking about the meteor that flew over Russia Friday morning.

"I've always wanted to see a fireball myself,” said Hahn.

Video after video captured a meteor exploding over Russia in a bright light. It left a cloud of smoke in its wake. Because the meteor was traveling faster than the speed of sound, it created a sonic boom. The boom shattered windows, injuring hundreds with broken glass.

"I've never seen a fireball as big as that and cause as much destruction,” said Hahn. “There was another impact over Russia maybe a hundred years ago, almost a hundred years ago that flattened millions of trees but there was no one there to see it happen."

According to data from The Meteoritical Society , there have been fewer than two dozen known meteorites to strike Central Texas. Worldwide, they've found craters dating as far back as 2,300 BC.

“Just from dating the craters and measuring the abundance of impactors in space, asteroids, you can estimate how often these impacts will occur and they are very very rare,” said Hahn.

Hahn says the next step is finding fragments of the meteorite. Scientists can trace the meteorite back to the asteroid it resembles.

"By studying asteroids you can figure out how the solar system formed, how the planets formed and what's still out there in the asteroid belt," said Hahn.

Is an event like this something we should worry about? No, according to Hahn.

“Some people worry about rocks from space,” said Hahn. “Is it going to kill? Is it going to wipe out a town? I would say don’t worry about it. Traffic accidents and flu are far more dangerous.”