Barometer | 10 March 2012

Catch a falling star

Astronomers appealed to anyone who might have found a small, polished piece of rock: the remains of a meteor spotted as it streaked across Britain. Being hit by a meteorite has become a byword for an unlikely event, but just how unlikely is it?

— One of the last cases of reported damage to property from a meteorite strike was in Park Forest, Chicago in 2003, when a meteorite shower caused damage to roofs, windows and cars.
— The last death reported from a meteor strike was a cow in Venezuela in 1972.
— The last credible report of a direct hit on a human was a woman injured in Alabama, in 1954.
— But there is the potential for a catastrophe. In 1908, a large asteroid exploded in Siberia, burning 2,000 square metres of forest. If such an event occurred over modern Manhattan, the US actuaries Risk Management Solutions calculate it could cause 3.2