The skies over the Atlantic Ocean recently played host to a large bang that occurred from a massive space rock entering out atmosphere. It’s estimated to have taken place at approximately 13:55 GMT on February 6th, just off of the coast of Brazil.
The reason the event made headlines is because it unleashed a massive boom in the surrounding skies. It’s estimated the explosion was approximately the equivalent of 13,000 tons of TNT exploding, which is approximately the same amount of force that was recorded in the Hiroshima atomic blast in 1945. The results are listed on NASA’s Fireball and Bolide Reports page.
With events such as this, it’s worth noting the 2013 Chelyabinsk event that occurred just over the skies in Russia, in which an even bigger space rock entered the Earth’s atmosphere and generated forces equivalent to almost 500,000 tons of TNT exploding.
Although the case over the Atlantic Ocean was significantly smaller than that of Russia in 2013, it’s the largest recorded event of its kind since the Chelyabinsk event, and it’s still a sobering fact that these explosions in our skies can leave people injured. The event in Russia shattered building windows, sending glass flying into the paths of thousands of people.
Although the 13,000 ton-equivalent space rock off the coast of Brazil probably wasn’t noticed by many, seeing as how the information wasn’t even publicized until weeks after it happened, it does prove that we’re in real danger from rogue space rocks impacting our Earth.
Space administrations from various countries are looking at ways to protect the Earth from incoming space rocks either by deflection or explosion, but we can’t necessarily see every space rock out there – everything comes down to chance.
In other news, a large asteroid will pass Earth as close as 11,000 miles away on March 5th, which should get people's adrenaline pumping.
Source: Daily Mail
