[Rockhounds] Fragment of 1, 000-pound meteor that exploded over Texas could reveal new insights about our solar system

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

A hefty meteor weighing around the same as a grand piano recently exploded
in the skies above Texas, potentially showering the surrounding area with
smaller fragments. One of these meteorite chunks has already been recovered
and could help reveal more about our cosmic neighborhood, experts say.

The meteor, which was likely a small *asteroid*
<https://www.livescience.com/asteroids>, entered Earth's atmosphere on Feb.
15 at around 5 p.m. CST and broke apart in a burst of flames about 21 miles
(33.8 kilometers) above the city of McAllen. This type of space rock is
known as a fireball meteor because of the bright flash given off as it
breaks apart, due to friction between the fast-moving object and the air in
the atmosphere.

"Based on analysis of preliminary information from several sources, NASA
experts believe the object was a meteoroid about two feet [0.6 meters] in
diameter weighing about 1,000 pounds [454 kilograms]," representatives from
NASA's Meteor Watch wrote on *Facebook*
<https://www.facebook.com/NasaMeteorWatch/posts/pfbid032HUamrBoje2CXd264LtPG4jrHoYrNYwYgjz7gH1WyAdzy3ZU2c9BpgNydvn2uEuql>(opens
in new tab). The meteor was traveling at around 27,000 mph (43,450 km/h)
when it exploded and released the equivalent energy of around 8 tons (7.3
metric tons) of TNT, they added.
https://www.livescience.com/fragment-of-1000-pound-meteor-that-exploded-over-texas-could-reveal-new-insights-about-our-solar-system