Scientists Hear Russia's February Meteor in America

A recent attempt by researchers at Georgia Tech has made it possible for audiences to hear what meteor waves sound like. Scientists focused on the recent meteor that streaked across Russian skies in the month of February and crashed into a frozen lake on the outskirts of Chelyabinsk in the Ural region.

With nearly 1,000 people injured and several homes damaged, you must be wondering how powerful the meteor was. According to the researchers from Georgia Tech, the meteor was so strong that its explosive entry into the atmosphere was detected nearly 6,000 miles away in Lilburn, Georgia.

It was detected 10 hours after its explosion with the help of infrasound sensors. By modifying the signals, the researchers have made it audible for audiences to hear what the meteor waves sounded like as they traveled around the globe Feb. 15, 2013.

It is impossible for the human ear to detect infrasound signals. But Georgia Tech faculty played the data faster than its true speed and increased the frequency of the sound waves in order to make them audible.

"The sound started at about 10 hours after the explosion and lasted for another 10 hours in Georgia," said faculty member Zhigang Peng in a press statement.  "They are like tsunami waves induced by large earthquakes. Their traveling speeds are similar, but the infrasound propagates in the atmosphere rather than in deep oceans."

Based on estimation, scientists assume that the meteor was close to 55 feet in diameter and weighed more than 7,000 tons, and traveled across the sky at 40,000 miles an hour. Its energy approximated at around 30 nuclear bombs.

With the help of the same sonification process, Peng also converted the seismic waves from a North Korea nuclear test Feb. 12 and the earthquake that occurred in Nevada the following day. The seismic instrument was placed at a distance of 100-200 miles from each event. Prior to this, Peng had sonified the 2011's historic Tohoku-Oki earthquake in Japan.