February 28, 2020. People in southern Slovenia were suddenly disturbed with loud explosions and a 3.5-second flash which left a visible trail of dust. A bright ball of light in the sky was also seen in various countries on that day. It was recorded in dashcams, helmets, and security cameras.
The ball of light in question was a rock from a distant asteroid. The rock was about one meter across and weighed about four metric tons before entering our atmosphere before it broke down into 17 pieces.
But where exactly did these rocks fall? To solve this, scientists have combined observations from cameras to measure the trajectory of the fireball. In doing so, they can determine where in the Solar System it came from, and where it went. This approach proved effective at night. However, because the ball was spotted during the day, scientists needed a different method. They asked local people to take pictures from various locations to help compute the trajectory.
See the full story over at the Europlanet Society.
(All Videos: Europlanet Society)
#Meteorite #TrajectoryCalculation #Asteroid #SpaceRock #Slovenia
Image: Bojan Ambrožič/Center of Excellence on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Slovenia