Scientists in Chicago studying Michigan meteor

Chicago – Scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum are studying a piece of the meteor that broke apart earlier this month over Michigan.

The meteorite, the size of a peach pit, arrived Wednesday. NASA scientists say the 6-foot-wide meteor broke apart about 20 miles over Earth on Jan. 16. It created a bright light and what sounded like thunder in the sky.

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Museum associate curator Philipp Heck believes the meteorite came from an asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Meteorite hunter Robert Ward found it on a snow-covered lake near Hamburg, Michigan, and donated it to the Field Museum.

A meteoroid is a small chunk of asteroid or comet. When it enters Earth’s atmosphere it becomes a meteor, fireball or shooting star. The pieces of rock that hit the ground are meteorites.