A meteor exploded some 20 to 30 miles above the ground Friday over the Ural Mountains in Southwest Russia.
About 1,100 people were injured, many by flying glass as they flocked to windows to see what had caused the flash of light.
Scientists say the meteor released several kilotons of energy above the region. They say it was probably about six and a half feet across, about the size of an SUV.
There's no word of any deaths, or anyone struck by fragments of the meteor.
An astronomy professor at Coastal Carolina University says we shouldn't lose any sleep over the danger of meteorites.
Dr. Louis Rubbo says the Earth is bombarded with meteorites every day, but the vast majority of them are tiny or come down over the ocean.
It's just that the one over Russia was closer to a populated area and there were lots of cameras around.
"We're getting in the technology age, where a lot of these videos we're seeing were recorders right on the dash of cars and that's something we haven't had in the past," Rubbo said.
What injured all those people in Russia wasn't the meteorite itself, which exploded and burned out when it hit the atmosphere.
The people were mostly hurt by flying glass.
"It was the sonic boom and the air blast pushing outwards and hitting on the windows," Rubbo explained.
Now, if a really large meteorite - say, a mile across - were to hit the earth, Rubbo says it would seriously disrupt humanity.
What are the chances of that happening, especially a meteorite hitting a large city? You might have better odds of winning the Powerball jackpot.
"The probability of hitting one is very, very, very, very low. Probably should add more very's than that, in fact," Rubbo said.
Scientists were also tracking an asteroid, about half the size of a football field, that made a very close swing past the Earth on Friday.
It's a weird coincidence, Rubbo says, but the asteroid safely missed Earth and had nothing to do with the meteorite.
"They're coming from different parts of the sky and you can see the path that they took make them unrelated."
Rubbo says NASA has the ability today to track many large asteroids. If the space agency saw one coming, there's a chance the asteroid could be nudged out of the way before it posed a serious threat to the planet.
"If we can know about it early enough, it would be a very small bump and we could either push it a little faster or slow it down just enough to change its path," he said.
Rubbo asked his students Friday, what if we lived a thousand years ago?
If we saw that meteorite over Russia, it would seriously shake up our world view. We might think it was a sign from God, or a sign to go to war, he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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