(HUTCHINSON, Kan.)—
For most people, the drive to work stays the same from day to day. But on Thursday, during many Russians' commute, the sky turned white and everything changed. A meteor blazed over the Russian sky, rocking buildings, shattering windows, and injuring more than 1,000 people.Eyewitness News wanted to know if it could happen in Kansas. Katie Gillmore with the Kansas Cosmosphere says, "It is something that could be possible, but since it is so rare it's not something that we would expect."
Thousands of people saw it scatter across the sky in Russia, but what most people don't know is that meteorites are found every year in Kansas. Gillmore says, "What makes it so different is the size of the meteor, how large it was as it broke into particles. Usually meteors are much smaller and you see those in the form of shooting stars."
Gillmore says people sometimes think meteors or asteroids can be shot down by the military, but that is a misconception. She says, "I know that's something that NASA has kind of looked at, tracking the asteroids and seeing what could be done in the future if this was going to happen."
Gillmore says coincidently, an asteroid flew by earth on Friday about 17,000 miles up. She says that is as close as it can get without causing problems on land. For some perspective, satellites usually fly at about 22,000 miles up. Right now, she says nothing looks to be headed our way here in Kansas. Gillmore says, "There is nothing to worry about, things are good."
