The Truth About Meteors

Category: Astronomy

On a bright, cold morning on 15th February 2013, a meteorite ripped across the skies above the Ural mountains in Russia, distintegrating into three pieces and exploding with the force of 20 Hiroshimas. It was a stark reminder that the Earth's journey through space is fraught with danger. A day later, another much larger 143,000 tonne asteroid passed within just 17,000 miles of the Earth. Presented by Professor Iain Stewart, this film explores what meteorites and asteroids are, where they come from, the danger they pose and the role they have played in Earth's history.

Make a donation

Buy a brother a hot coffee? Or a cold beer?

Hope you're finding these documentaries fascinating and eye-opening. It's just me, working hard behind the scenes to bring you this enriching content.

Running and maintaining a website like this takes time and resources. That's why I'm reaching out to you. If you appreciate what I do and would like to support my efforts, would you consider "buying me a coffee"?

Donation addresses

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

patreon.com

BTC: bc1q8ldskxh4x9qnddhcrgcun8rtvddeldm2a07r2v

ETH: 0x5CCAAA1afc5c5D814129d99277dDb5A979672116

With your donation through , you can show your appreciation and help me keep this project going. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant impact. It goes directly towards covering server costs.

You might also like

The Persistence of Memory

The idea of intelligence is explored in the concepts of computers (using bits as their basic units of information), whales (in their songs and their disruptions by human activities), DNA, the human brain (the evolution of the brain stem, frontal lobes, neurons, cerebral hemispheres, and corpus callosum under the Triune Brain Model), and man-made structures for collective intelligence (cities, libraries, books, computers, and satellites). The episode ends with speculation on alien intelligence and the information conveyed on the Voyager Golden Record.

11/13Cosmos: A Personal Voyage • 1980 • Astronomy

Into Space

The most innovative area of human motion lies not on Earth, but with the exploration of space. Meet the private space entrepreneurs jostling to offer the tantalizing prospect of cheap, frequent travel beyond the atmosphere into Earth orbit.

S1E4Speed • 2019 • Astronomy

War of the Galaxies

Galaxies are locked in continual combat across the universe, and our own Milky Way will face its biggest opponent ever, the Andromeda Galaxy, in a titanic and deadly struggle that could create a new and unrecognizable super galaxy.

S9E6How the Universe Works • 2021 • Astronomy

Twin Suns: The Alien Mysteries

Planets that orbit two suns instead of one might be deadly hell worlds, but new discoveries reveal that sci-fi star systems with binary stars might be optimal places for alien life.

S6E2How the Universe Works • 2018 • Astronomy

Escape

Astronaut Chris Hadfield has seen the bullet holes left by asteroids on Earth's surface. Our planet is vulnerable. Could we ever survive elsewhere?

6/10One Strange Rock • 2018 • Astronomy

Voyage to Mars: The Longest Goodbye

Nasa intends to send astronauts to Mars. To succeed, crew members will have to overcome unprecedented, life-threatening challenges, and while many of these hazards are physical, the most elusive are psychological. Throughout the expected three-year absence, crew members won't be able to communicate with Earth in real time due to the immense distance. The psychological impact of this level of disconnectedness and isolation - both from mission control and loved ones - is impossible to predict and endangers the mission itself. Directed to mitigate this threat is Dr Al Holland, a Nasa psychologist whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in space. The Longest Goodbye follows Holland, rookie astronauts Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer and former astronaut Cady Coleman, among others, as they grapple with the tension between their dream of reaching new frontiers and the basic human need to stay connected to home.

2023 • Astronomy