See how Russian meteor strike went down in this handy animation

So by now, everyone should know that an explosion from a meteor burning up over the Urals in Russia injured about 1,000 people on Friday. But unless you're an astronomer, odds are you don't really understand how we went from a flying space rock to a sonic boom in the mountains. Thankfully, there's this handy animation that explains just how the whole fireball went down. Scientists estimate that when the rock entered the atmosphere, it probably weighed around 10,000 tons and was travelling at almost 66,000 miles per hour. As it passed through the atmosphere, the meteor heated up and exploded, leading to the impressive fireball and disastrous impact.

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