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"Even though the overnight blast happened on the other side of the world, local astronomers have had a lot of questions to answer Friday, both from concerned family and excited students.Thomas More professor Dr. Wes Ryle had been anticipating a lot of talk Friday because of an afternoon asteroid flyby, one of the closest in recent history.But when he woke up to the news of a meteorite explosion over Russia, there was even more to talk about in class.Ryle said that there are not many examples in recorded history of mid-air explosions of meteors, so Friday\u2019s event will be studied by astronomers for years to come.\u201CThe thing that makes this one special is that not only did you get the streak across the sky, you got an explosion that created a shock wave that did damage to buildings and damage to people from the shattered glass of windows,\u201D he said.Photos: Russia meteorRyle said that if Friday\u2019s event would occur over Cincinnati, we'd have a big mess of our own, but not much different than the damage in Russia.\u201CIt would definitely shatter most of the windows in the downtown area,\" he said.What happened over Russia has not happened in the U.S. in modern times, although meteors shooting through the earth's atmosphere are not uncommon.In 1992, the Peekskill meteorite was witnessed by thousands.\"The Peekskill meteorite went over most of the eastern United States and ended up hitting a car in New York,\" Ryle said.The next fly-by that local astronomers know about and are looking forward to is Comet ISON, which will be bright in the sky this December, and has no chance of hitting Earth."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wlwt.com/article/russia-meteor-upstages-asteroid-flyby-for-local-astronomers/3528975>