Wooster Earth sciences and physics professors answer common questions about meteor passing through Northeastern Ohio

Tuesday morning, March 17, while The College of Wooster campus was quiet with students on spring break, a meteor streaked across Northeastern Ohio, causing a loud boom throughout the area. According to NASA, the object was two meters in diameter and weighed around six metric tons, leaving a potential field of meteorites just north of Wooster’s campus in Medina County. But did you know meteoritic material enters Earth’s atmosphere every day? What exactly is a meteorite and what should people do if they think they found one?

Wooster Professor Meagen Pollock, geologist and Lewis M. and Marian Senter Nixon Professorship in the Natural Sciences, and Assistant Professor of Physics Laura DeGroot, at the College, answer these questions and more below.

How often do meteors enter the Earth’s atmosphere in this way?

Pollock: Several tons of meteoritic material enter Earth’s atmosphere each day. (According to NASA, scientists estimate about 48.5 tons of material per day!). Most of it burns up in the atmosphere and never reaches the ground.

How do scientists track or detect events like this?

Pollock: Scientists use multiple methods, including weather radar, satellite sensors, and eyewitness reports. According to NASA, this event was seen from three regional weather radars and picked up by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper instrument on a weather satellite, which detects light emitted by electrical discharges. So far, there are 222 eyewitness reports about this event on the American Meteor Society site.

What determines whether something burns up completely verses reaching the ground?

DeGroot: According to NASA, anything smaller than a football field will break apart in the Earth’s atmosphere, but the initial size, composition, and speed are factors that determine whether it makes it to the surface. They are traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, and when they hit the air in front of them compresses very quickly causing the temperature to rise. This causes the meteor to heat up and burn until there is nothing left. This also causes intense pressure of the atmospheric gas, which can exceed the structural strength of the object holding itself together causing it to explode midair. As this happens, we then see a bright flare and less than 5% of the original object reaches the ground.

Are meteorites dangerous or should we be concerned that it could happen again?

DeGroot: Documented cases of meteorites causing injuries or deaths are rare! While Earth’s atmosphere is bombarded by space debris daily, larger meteors only strike every few years or decades. We know of very large impacts due to craters from millions and tens of thousands of years ago. Other documented cases of large impacts include in 1908, 1954, and many may remember the 2013 fireball that streaked across the sky in Chelyabinsk, Russia. This one blew apart 14 miles above the ground, creating a shockwave that damaged buildings that caused injuries. Overall, they are rare, and we don’t need to be concerned. Most material burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

What is the difference between a meteor, asteroid, and meteorite?

Pollock: An asteroid is a small, rocky or metallic body that orbits the Sun. When a piece of an asteroid, or some other object, enters Earth’s atmosphere, it heats up and glows, and we see a bright streak of light called a meteor. A meteorite is what we call the object if it makes it to Earth’s surface.

What was it made of?

Pollock: Most meteorites are stony meteorites, made primarily of minerals like we find on Earth with small amounts of metallic iron. NASA has confirmed from a sample that it was a type of stony meteorite called an achondrite, which has experienced geologic processes like the ones on Earth. It’s less dense than the stony meteorites that have the small amounts of metallic iron.

Is it possible to find a meteorite? How would we recognize one?

Pollock: Yes, it’s possible, but it’s harder than you might expect, even if you have an idea of where they might be based on a color-coded strewn field map like the one at the link above. Look for rocks that feel heavier than expected for their size and appear to be different from surrounding rocks. It might also have a dark, glassy fusion crust on the outer edges.

Is there scientific value in collecting fragments/meteorites?

Pollock: Absolutely! Meteorites are direct samples of other bodies in our solar system, many of which formed over 4.5 billion years ago. By studying them, we learn about solar system formation, planetary processes, and even the chemical ingredients that may have contributed to the origin of life on Earth. If they’re recovered carefully from known falls, they’re even more scientifically valuable because their history and exposure are well constrained.

What should people do if they think they’ve found a meteorite?

Pollock: Try not to touch it with your hands! Snap a photo where it lies, note its location, and use clean foil or gloves to collect it. Keep it clean, dry, and wrapped or in a bag, and take it to an institution that can examine it for you. You can bring it to The College of Wooster Earth Sciences Department or the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Please be warned, though! Most suspected meteorites turn out to be regular rocks.

Featured image: Assistant Professor of Physics Laura DeGroot (left) and Wooster Professor Meagen Pollock, geologist and Lewis M. and Marian Senter Nixon Professorship in the Natural Sciences (right)

Posted in Faculty, News on March 23, 2026.