The meteor appeared as a flash of sheet lightning and a large, green object going across the sky. The explosion rattled windows in nearby villages and sent snow sliding off roofs.
Scientists believe the object exploded in the sky rather than hitting the ground.
Meteors that explode in the air can be just as dangerous as those the hit the ground. Read about what happened in Siberia in 1908. Despite the above, scientists have changed their estimates about how many near-Earth asteroids there are that might pose a threat of a devastating collision with our planet. Original estimates placed the number of dangerous asteroids at between 1,000 and 2,000. New calculations show that the number may be closer to 500 to 1,000.