via Youtube
Outer-space junkies, today's your lucky day. As news of an approaching asteroid broke Friday morning, authorities announced that a meteor had exploded over Russia, showering debris and broken glass and injuring over 500 people. What exactly caused the meteorite shower is up for debate. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations said it was the result of an explosion, while a different government expert said it could have been a bolide—a fiery sort of meteor that, based on composition or how it makes its way into Earth’s atmosphere, would explode on entry. And yet, according to the governor of Siberia’s Chelyabinsk region, a search team has already found an impact crater 50 miles west of the area, suggesting that the meteor did not explode at all before reaching ground. Officials say the meteor shower is not connected to the asteroid set to "nearly miss" Earth Friday.