Heads up – it's explosive-meteorite season. A new analysis suggests that powerful incoming meteors like the rock responsible for last year's explosion over ChelyabinskMovie Camera, Russia, may not be completely random.
Brothers Carlos and Raúl de la Fuente Marcos at Complutense University of Madrid in Spain used data from the infrasound sensors of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization – which were designed to detect nuclear detonations on Earth – to measure 26 explosions from meteors hitting the atmosphere with energy of up to 1 kilotonne of TNT between 2000 and 2014. Seven other events were taken from published literature.
They found that several explosions occurred within a handful of days as similar explosions in previous years. For instance, the Chelyabinsk impact was on 15 February, 2013, while a meteorite over the South China Sea was recorded on 18 February, 2000, at almost the same latitude. The number of meteors in the study is admittedly very small, but a statistical analysis suggests that rather than being random events, there may be a seasonal aspect to explosive meteorites. ...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... DvYCPldVsk