Introduction
A meteor broke apart and exploded over Russia's Ural Mountains in the morning of Feb. 15, injuring hundreds and breaking windows.
 The meteor which exploded over the Urals of central Russia was seen by Meteosat-9, at the edge of the satellite view. Hundreds of people were reportedly injured as the meteor's massive sonic boom caused widespread damage. Image taken Feb. 15, 2013, 3:15 UTC. |
As it entered Earth's atmosphere, people witnessing the event filmed the hunk of space rock as it streaked across the sky and shattered into pieces.
This might be the most recent fireball to enter the atmosphere, but it's certainly not the first.
Here are five incredible fireballs caught on video.
5. Piece of Comet Creates Bright Streak
A 3.3 foot-wide (1 meter) piece of what could have been Halley's Comet rocketed through the atmosphere at a blistering 86,000 mph (138,404 km/h).
The video of the fragment shooting across the sky was recorded by a NASA camera in Cartersville, Georgia [USA], on May 20, 2011.
The piece of ice and rock disintegrated 37 miles (59.5 km) above the surface of the Earth.
4. Texas Meteor Caught on Camera
A dashboard camera on a squad car from the Little River-Academy Police Department in Texas caught this fireball as it fell through Earth's atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2012.
3. Lick Observatory Fireball
 Lick Observatory posted a video of the California fireball that appeared Oct. 17, 2012. They wrote: "Raw footage of meteor breaking up over San Jose captured by our security camera from the Lick Observatory. (Camera is a little out of focus and tilted) Round structure to the left is the 40 inch Nickel refracting telescope dome. Lights in the background are from the San Jose cityscape." Credit: Lick Observatory (via YouTube as Erik Kovacs) |
The fireball wasn't caught on video by observatory cameras, however. Instead, the security cameras responsible for keeping an eye on the observatory itself caught the streaking meteor on film.
2. Fireball Over Arkansas
 Brian Emfinger took this photograph on Jan. 2, 2012, in Ozark, Arkansas. He said: "The radiant is very very close to the Quadrantid but Im not 100% sure it is indeed a Quadrantid." |
Amateur astronomer Brian Emfinger caught this time-lapse video of the Quadrantid meteor shower on Jan. 2, 2012.
Emfinger captured one particularly bright fireball as it streaked across the sky in Arkansas.
The Quadrantid meteor shower happens yearly when the Earth passes through a trail of dust and debris left behind from a comet or asteroid. Usually the specks of dust are too small to create fireballs, but occasionally one larger piece makes it into the atmosphere, sometimes creating a brilliant light show.
1. Space Rock Over Georgia
A fireball over north Georgia recorded on Feb. 13th by a NASA all-sky camera in
Walker County, Georgia.
The video was caught in February of last year when there were multiple sightings of the slow moving space rocks throughout the month. Some of the meteors made it as far as 31 miles (50 km) above Earth's surface.
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