A meteor weighing up to 500 pounds flew over the city of Pittsburgh on the night of February 17, surprising many skygazers with its dazzling display.
Astronomers believe the rock was around two feet in diameter, and traveling about 45,000 miles per hour as it raced through the sky. The body first became visible above western Pennsylvania, and was recorded on three of 15 black and white cameras operated by NASA to image shooting stars. The body was last tracked at an altitude of 13 miles above the surface of the planet, and investigators believe remnants of the space rock may have landed east of Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
Researchers at NASA have calculated the path the body took before entering the atmosphere of our planet. They believe it passed the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, before turning toward our home planet, and a close encounter with the steel city. A video was created, showing the journey the asteroid took to our planet, from the point of view of the body. This film is available on the NASA Meteor Watch Facebook page.
"This celestial visitor had an orbit that took it out to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter - it came a mightly long way to a fiery end in the predawn Pennsylvania sky," NASA Meteor Watch officials reported on their Facebook page.
Most shooting stars are caused by tiny meteors, usually about the size of apple seeds. Bodies this size constantly streak through the atmosphere of the Earth, glowing from heat produced by friction from the air. The vast majority of these objects are destroyed before they ever reach the surface of the planet.
Larger meteors have caused significant damage throughout the history of the Earth, although it was not until two years ago that a major city was threatened by one of these space rocks. On February 15, 2013, a meteor racing over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk at 40,000 miles per hour exploded 18 miles above the city of 1.13 million people. The energy released during the event was estimated to be between 20 and 30 times greater than forces created during the atmoic explosion above Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945.
"No human in the past 1000 years is known to have been killed by a meteorite or by the effects of one impacting. (There are ancient Chinese records of such deaths.) An individual's chance of being killed by a meteorite is small, but the risk increases with the size of the impacting comet or asteroid, with the greatest risk associated with global catastrophes," NASA officials report.
