Asteroid and meteorites raise the question: Is the sky falling?

The surprise crash landing of meteorite fragments in Russia at nearly the same time that a significant asteroid is expected to pass close to Earth is considered a coincidence – one that has sharpened questions about how vulnerable we are to threats from space.

Observers have long been preparing for Asteroid 2012 DA14 to pass by our planet, where it is expected to make a close pass today.

They had not been expecting a fireball to streak across the sky and drop meteorites over the Ural Mountains. This fireball created a sonic boom that has shattered windows and left hundreds injured.

“This was amazing,” says Laura Parker, an associate professor of physics and astronomy at McMaster, where she is a specialist in cosmology. “This was a fireball – a rare event. Even though small meteors are visible every night, it’s rare that we would see something of this magnitude.”

Though there is no connection between the two events, their timing is a reminder that we need to be vigilant and monitor the night sky to prepare for future threats, Parker says.

In 2009, a widely observed – and recorded — fireball was tracked by cameras at McMaster and elsewhere to a field near Grimsby, Ontario, near Hamilton, leading to the recovery of fragments that have been studied by researchers at the university and elsewhere.

Video of  the fireball which streaked across the skies of Russia this morning, via  YouTube.com/RussiaToday