Captured on video, a huge fire ball blasting through the sky is what many in Russia witnessed on their early morning commute. It was also quite a shock for some here in South Florida.
“I would freeze up standing still!!” said a group of Broward College students and staff.
In the now viral videos, what looks like the sun moving at a high rate of speed, is actually a meteorite exploding into the earth’s atmosphere.
Susan Barnett is the Director of Broward College’s Buehler Planetarium and Observatory, and she says because of it’s sheer energy lots of glass shattered.
“So that boom as it’s traveling faster than sound. That’s what’s caused the damage unfortunately,” Burnett said.
The earth is in a cosmic shooting gallery and just by looking at our neighbor the moon, the craters are prime evidence of that.
WATCH: Exploding Meteorite Lights Up Russian Sky
“The earth actually gets hit with objects from space every single day. As a matter of fact we figure 100 tons of space debris,” Burnett said.
In a cosmic coincidence an asteroid came very close to the earth this afternoon. Not visible to the naked eye like in Russia but very rare.
Asteroid Near-Miss: How to Watch and Why It Matters
She also said: “it’s even closer than the television satellites that are transmitting your television signals so at 17,000. It’s very very close.”
Events like this make people pay attention to the sky but Burnett says there’s no reason to worry.
Sky Fall Q&A: Meteors, Meteorites & Asteroids
Photo Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS