The meteorite that exploded over Russia, traveling at a speed of 33,000 miles per hour, injured hundreds, blew out windows and sparked a discussion in Dr. John Feldmeier's astronomy class at Youngstown State University.

"I thought it was normal Russia, that's crazy," said Brandon Smith, a YSU sophomore.

"What's unusual about this meteorite today is it came very close to a pretty decent size city in Russia," said Dr. John Feldmeier, Youngstown State University professor of physics and astronomy.

Feldmeier told students that most of the time, rocks like this land in the ocean. Friday's meteorite actually blew up in the sky, thousands of feet above the Earth's surface.

"As it blew up and as it entered the earth's atmosphere, this huge shock wave blew out from all directions and anybody within that region felt that shock wave," said Feldmeier.

"We are bombarded by little particles of space dust every day, it happens all the time," said Dr. Patrick Durrell, assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy. "People just have to remember there's a lot more small pieces than big pieces."

While the meteorite that hit Russia was large in force, Durrell said it was probably a small rock, making it hard to track.

"This one was probably the size of a small car," said Durrell.

Ironically, on the same day as the Russian meteorite, a much bigger rock, an asteroid about half the size of a football field passed by Earth. NASA was able to track this one when it was discovered about a year ago.

"It's not going to hit us, but it is just a reminder that there are lots of these little asteroids around and occassionally we're going to get close passes and yes, even occassionally get hit."

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Meteorite Sparks Discussion in Astronomy Classes