Purdue research helps analyze Russian meteor

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Some research at Purdue will be used to help learn more about a very rare event.

Hundreds were injured when a large meteor exploded over a small Russian town Friday morning. The blast from the explosion shattered windows and damaged some buildings.

What many from the Greater Lafayette area may not know is that about 40 miles northwest of Lafayette, a few miles east of Kentland in Newton County, are the remains from a massive impact. The vertical rock layers hint at the collision's power. It's a site that is currently a rock quarry and is also where geologists first discovered a rock formation that is distinctive to meteor or asteroid impacts.

Purdue scientists like Professor Jay Melosh in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences have developed a crater calculator to analyze impact zones and air bursts caused by something like today's meteor.

"To actually have it move from the realm of theory to something that really happened is really exciting," said Melosh. "These shattercones were first discovered in the 1940s at Kentland so among scientists it's a famous site."

We'll have much more on this story Saturday on News 18 at 6 and 11.