Suggested Searches

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

The Car, the Hole, and the Peekskill Meteorite

Explanation: The Peekskill meteor of 1992 was captured on 16 independent video s and then struck a car. Documented as brighter than the full Moon , the spectacular fireball crossed parts of several US states during its 40 seconds of glory before landing in Peekskill , New York . The resulting meteorite , pictured here, is composed of dense rock and has the size and mass of an extremely heavy bowling ball . If you are lucky enough to find a meteorite just after impact , do not pick it up -- parts of it are likely to be either very hot or very cold. In this weekend 's Leonid meteor shower , few meteors, if any, are expected to hit the ground.

Date November 19, 2006
Credit Credit & Copyright: Pierre Thomas ( LST ), ENS Lyon
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.