Unique Images of Chelyabinsk Meteor Captured by CSU Researchers

A team of researchers captured images of the trail left by the meteor which crashed in Chelyabinsk, Russia on Feb. 15 earlier this year.

The team included researchers from the CSU (Colorado State University) along with members from CIRA (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere), CIMSS (Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies) at University Wisconsin-Madison, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

Steven Miller, deputy director of CIRA was the lead author of this study.

The meteor  left a trail in the sky and its trajectory was snapped from different angles by Earth-viewing environment satellites. The crash caused a lot of damage to life and properties.

 "The Chelyabinsk event is the first eye-witnessed large meteor known to cause significant property damage and injuries - and it was also seen remotely from space," Miller said in a news release. "The timing of the satellite overpass within a few minutes of impact is a remarkable stroke of good luck, which allowed for an estimate of the object's trajectory through the middle atmosphere."

The researchers collected and restructured all the images and recordings taken by the environmental and weather-monitoring satellites and created an in-depth trajectory of the meteor.

"Earth-viewing environmental satellite sensors are, of course, looking down toward the Earth. They are designed to measure things like cloud cover, dust/smoke/ash/pollution, surface and atmospheric temperature and moisture, and other geophysical parameters," Miller said.

"However, when a large object enters the atmosphere, forming a fireball, these same satellite-based sensors are able to detect and map details of the debris trail left behind. This gives scientists important information that can be used to determine the original orbit of the body, as well as the break-up properties of the object, which give insight to its composition," he added.

This study brought forward the fact that the conventional weather satellites can also help in monitoring and collecting quantitative data about giant meteors like surface-based monitoring, pointing towards the usefulness of space platforms for forecasting events and improving strategies, Miller explained.

"Using satellites that are constantly monitoring the Earth's atmosphere to detect the influx of meteors promises to greatly improve our capability to detect, and perhaps prepare for, meteor impact events," Miller concluded.