Many meteors streak across the sky, but few explode thunderously the way it did last Thursday in Cyprus. The mysterious outburst baffled and alarmed the locals who felt the ground shake at the force. How common and dangerous is this phenomenon?
According to a report from New York Times, Cypriot eyewitnesses saw a glowing bluish object in the sky over the east Mediterranean island's Troodos mountain range before midnight on Tuesday.
A police official reported that that the witness accounts said there was a loud explosion and shaking of the ground.
"It had a 45 degree tilt and a bang was heard as it passed over Cyprus," Cyprus astronomical society honorary chairman Ioannis Fakas told Reuters. He explained that parts of the meteorite are believed to have hit the sea north of Cyprus, adding that the object likely didn't weigh over a few kilos.
However, Cyprus Geological Department official Iodanis Demetriades pointed out that there's no indication that the meteor - or whatever object it was - hit the ground, the New York Times revealed. He said that it likely exploded in the sky.
Although these types of impacts typically scare witnesses, a report from the Christian Science Monitor revealed that it is more common than people believe. Although Forbes has said that about 30 meteorites hit the planet annually, it usually goes unnoticed by people because most of Earth's surface is made up of water.
Data from NASA revealed that catastrophic events relating to space debris hitting the Earth are quite rare. Little damage to property have been reported from falling debris and even lives that have been lost are minimal outside of the destructive incident in India.
Tulane University environmental sciences professor Stephen A. Nelson computed that the odds of getting killed by a meteorite is roughly one in 250,000. This is even lower then one's chances of getting killed by a tornado at one in 60,000.
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