Dear Crabby, Do We Need to Worry about More Meteors?

Dear Crabby, Do We Need to Worry about More Meteors?

Sincerely, Sky Rock

 

Dear Sky,

Yes and no. They could fall anytime, space has all kinds of ice and rocks and icy rocks shooting around the cosmos, and once in a while they fall to earth. Most times, the experts tell us, they break up and burn up in the atmosphere. Apparently, this last one on Tuesday was big enough to get through the atmosphere and go “BOOM” over Southeast Michigan.

I heard it and felt it. It shook the house. The grandkids thought it was a UFO landing on our house – I knew it wasn’t that, but I played along. I told ’em the little green men would be coming for them to take them away. As I thought I was scaring them, they got excited and said they couldn’t wait to visit other planets. Too much TV in my day scared me about all kinds of things. Today, television has dulled their brains to think “that would be fun.”

But what was it really? After the Mars Attacks story didn’t work I started wondering what it could have been. The smell of the landfill in Auburn Hills has been strong lately – maybe the methane buildup finally blew? Perhaps they were still trying to take down the Silverdome – but not at night I thought. So what was it?

Now we all know now. Quickly, social media lit up like the sky was falling and there it was – a crack, boom, bang meteor soaring over Michigan. Registering as a 2.0 magnitude earthquake, NASA says it was like 10 tons of TNT exploding and came from a 6-foot meteor. Since then, a few have reported finding meteorites – that’s the name meteors get once they land – in Hamburg Township.

Any who, I don’t think we’ll have this kind of excitement again for some time. While it happens all the time, it’s rare, like lightening hitting twice in the same place. However, we do need to remember that big meteor that took out the dinosaurs, we could be next.

Sleep well Sky and thanks for the question.

Sincerely, Dear Crabby.