Local astronomers explain Russian meteorite

MENASHA - Many people on the ground who witnessed the meteor may not have known what they were seeing. But, local astronomers say their observations help scientists.

Meteorite strikes like this one in Russia happen once every five years, scientists say.

“It was not a meteor shower, It was one object about the size of a kitchen table that came in over Russia,” said Alan Peche, the director of the Barlow Planetarium in Menasha.

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Peche says meteors are chunks of space rocks and metal. The debris left when it hits the earth is called a meteorite. The high speeds the meteor enters the atmosphere at can cause sonic booms, like this one caught on camera over Siberia.

“It caused a significant fireball in the sky. At one point, it was as bright as the sun,” said

Some of the biggest observations lately in astronomy have come not from scientists, but from people on the ground observing what's above them and capturing it on a cell phone video or other device.

"Those people were able to contribute without having astronomy knowledge just by observing and quite frankly that's the first step of science,” said Pesche.

Peche says these YouTube videos can be used as data to track speeds of the meteorite and where it may have landed.

“Those things usually have a time stamp. We know their location really well, so it gives scientists something. Where it is, the height of the meteorite. It allows us to track and actually figure out what's going on. A generation ago what happened in Russia would have really needed to have been dug into by eyewitness reports,” said Peche

Peche says in less than twelve hours, scientists in Russia tracked down an area where the meteorite may have landed: Showing that advances in modern technology can help in little ways, leading to bigger discoveries.