Talk of aliens from outer space is always good for a shiver or two from the fans of the more bizarre radio talk shows. While most scientists are skeptical of tales of alien beings, visitors from space are another matter. The brilliant displays of meteors were long thought to be an atmospheric phenomenon. The realization that they actually originate from outside of earth thrilled scientists. Here was the potential to sample matter from the earliest history of the solar system!
Perhaps a bit slower to be grasped was the potential for catastrophe
from the effects of a large meteor strike. Some Chihuahuan Desert inhabitants may have
awakened to the possibility on February 8, 1969, when a meteor estimated to have
weighed over 2 tons exploded in the sky southwest of Pueblito de Allende, in southern
Chihuahua. The resultant fragments peppered the earth over an area of some 60 square
miles, though causing no major damage. However, a similar explosion over Siberia in
1908 flattened hundreds of square miles of forest. Visitors from space can be a mixed
blessing.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Meteorite on display, Centennial Museum.
General all around source on meteors.