It just was a small white streak — a small cloud speckled with dark spots — hurtling toward rural Russia.
But to Colorado State University scientist Steve Miller, who had combed many satellite images searching for it, that white streak was unique, a one-of-a-kind image of a rare and largely unpredictable event: A meteor crashing to Earth’s surface, like it did on Feb. 15 in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The photo of the meteor trail, captured from a satellite orbiting 500 miles away from Earth, is the subject of a new CSU study and has the potential to help foster a new field of research, Miller said. Until now, scientists have not been able to track relatively small asteroids, like the Chelyabinsk meteor, and divert them from Earth. Miller hopes that photos taken from space and Earth, along with closer study, will change that.
The Chelyabinsk meteor was a complete surprise — its trail through the atmosphere was stunning.
In the lens of countless cameras — on car dashboards, on top of buildings, on cellphones — the fireball cast a blinding white light before it crashed to the ground. It was about 55 feet wide and weighed more than the Eiffel Tower. Its sonic boom burst windows miles away.
It was also the sonic boom that convinced Miller, deputy director at the university’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, that this meteor was the real thing.
“I watched it over and over again on the TiVo,” he said.
Thanks to a 33-year partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Miller and his team of researchers were able to capture a shot of the meteor as it trailed to Earth. One of 21 partnerships around the country, the CIRA researchers can access images from 10 geostationary satellites orbiting Earth, monitoring weather.
One satellite, what Miller calls a “low Earth orbiter,” was moving over the northern hemisphere when it caught the image of the meteor on one of its daily passes over the northern hemisphere at seven kilometers per second. From Earth, it looked like a shooting star.
Read More: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20131028/NEWS01/310250046
But to Colorado State University scientist Steve Miller, who had combed many satellite images searching for it, that white streak was unique, a one-of-a-kind image of a rare and largely unpredictable event: A meteor crashing to Earth’s surface, like it did on Feb. 15 in Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The photo of the meteor trail, captured from a satellite orbiting 500 miles away from Earth, is the subject of a new CSU study and has the potential to help foster a new field of research, Miller said. Until now, scientists have not been able to track relatively small asteroids, like the Chelyabinsk meteor, and divert them from Earth. Miller hopes that photos taken from space and Earth, along with closer study, will change that.
The Chelyabinsk meteor was a complete surprise — its trail through the atmosphere was stunning.
In the lens of countless cameras — on car dashboards, on top of buildings, on cellphones — the fireball cast a blinding white light before it crashed to the ground. It was about 55 feet wide and weighed more than the Eiffel Tower. Its sonic boom burst windows miles away.
It was also the sonic boom that convinced Miller, deputy director at the university’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, that this meteor was the real thing.
“I watched it over and over again on the TiVo,” he said.
Thanks to a 33-year partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, Miller and his team of researchers were able to capture a shot of the meteor as it trailed to Earth. One of 21 partnerships around the country, the CIRA researchers can access images from 10 geostationary satellites orbiting Earth, monitoring weather.
One satellite, what Miller calls a “low Earth orbiter,” was moving over the northern hemisphere when it caught the image of the meteor on one of its daily passes over the northern hemisphere at seven kilometers per second. From Earth, it looked like a shooting star.
Read More: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20131028/NEWS01/310250046
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