Posted at: 02/15/2013 5:28 PM Updated at: 02/15/2013 5:52 PM By:
Adam Camp, KOB Eyewitness News 4 A once in a lifetime experience
is how one University of New Mexico researcher described the
astronomical events Friday. A 150-meter wide meteor went through
earth’s atmosphere and landed in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Just hours
later, an asteroid passed just 17,000 miles from earth and NASA
tracked it. Karen Ziegler is a meteorite researcher for UNM.
“It's something very, very special. I think this is a once in a
lifetime experience to actually be able to observe and watch
something like that happen,” Ziegler said. The power of the
meteor going into the atmosphere is also something to behold.
“It's like a bomb going off. This particular meteorite, they
estimated the energy that was released when the meteor entered
the earth's atmosphere was the size of a nuclear bomb going
off,” Ziegler said. The meteorite’s impact injured over 1,000
people as the explosion shattered glass and sent debris flying.
Ziegler said that deb