Back in February, the internet erupted when videos of a massive explosion over a Russian city hit YouTube in the form of dash cam videos. In tomorrow’s issue of ScienceXpress, those videos act as a primary source of evidence for scientists looking to better understand what is now known as the Chelyabinsk meteor.Over the last few months, a team of researchers, led by Olga Popova of the Russian Academy of Sciences and including folks from NASA, tried to reconstruct the characteristics of the meteor and its trajectory. Now we do know that amateur videos actually helped science in the immediate aftermath of the event. But by examining even more dash cash videos, witness reports, and meteorite fragments, Popova and nearly 60 of her colleagues were able to obtain the clearest illustration yet of the meteor since it made its very loud, bright, and brash entrance.
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