A meteor entered Earth's atmosphere Friday at more than 50,000 kilometers an hour.
When it shattered about 50 kilometers above the ground the resulting meteorites caused explosions and widespread damage in Russia, injuring hundreds of people.
Images of the fireball and its trail of smoke were captured on car dashboard cameras, traffic cameras and cell phones. A blinding flash of light streaking across the sky, then a series of booms and explosions as the shockwave from breaking the sound barrier arrived.
On the ground there was chaos as more fragments slammed into the ground, and some witnesses thought a war had broken out.
The blast shattered windows and a zinc factory was heavily damaged, either from a direct hit or the shockwave of an impact.
Russian officials say more than 700 people were injured, mostly from broken glass. The Itar-Tass news agency reports three dozen have been hospitalized.
Scientists estimate the meteor weighed 11 tonnes before it broke apart.
About 20, 000 troops have been sent to the scene as well as three aircraft to survey the damage from the sky.
Scientists say the meteorite strikes in Russia are not related to an asteroid that flew very close to the Earth today.
That chunk of space rock -- asteroid DA-14 -- is estimated to be half the size of a football field and masses an estimated 130,000 tonnes.
It hurtled toward our planet eight times faster than a speeding bullet, flying past at 27, 500 km, which is closer than some communications satellites in orbit.
If it did strike, it could level a city with a force "equivalent to 180 Hiroshima-type bombs," said Andre Fazekas of the Royal Astronomical Society.
DA-14 was only discovered last year by an amateur astronomer. While NASA and other space agencies keep an eye on the heavens, they do not have the budget to observe the entire sky.
It is, however, just a coincidence that this large rock is coming by at the same time as a a strike in Russia.
Astronomers estimate that meteorites the size of the one that hit today happen ever 5 to 10 years, while strikes from something the size of DA-14 happen once every thousand years.
