The main part of the episode, though, focused on the recent February meteorite strike near Chelyabinsk, Russia. This was the most documented meteorite strike in world history, thanks to so many Russian dashboard cameras. On a side note, Russians are terrible at driving and require huge amounts of expensive insurance, so lots of people carry these cams on their dashes to prove what happened. Who would have ever guessed they would record an historic, scientific event?
The science in the episode is breathtaking. One of my favorite parts involved a scientist who traveled from the U.S. to Chelyabinsk to find the spots from which most of the videos had been taken. Using these measurements, he and his team were able to then pinpoint where the meteorite originated in outer space and what track it came at through the atmosphere. They were also able to determine the size, speed, and trajectory of the object as well. They even found shards of it in the nearby Chelyabinsk fields.
Programs like this help us understand nature quite a bit but they also remind us that we need to remember that we are not immortal. If this strike had occurred just a little differently over a larger populated area, there could have been many casualties. We also need to be aware that we are intelligent enough as a species to prevent these kinds of things from harming us in the future. We need to fund the programs that track these objects and build orbital systems to intercept them. It's entirely possible, but we just need the money to do it.
Finally, this video is one of my favorites from the recent Chelyabinsk event.
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