Bob McDonald explains the Russian meteor

The meteor that streaked across the Russian sky before exploding over the Ural Mountains "punched a hole in the air," says the CBCs top science reporter.

Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radios Quirks & Quarks, said the meteor was travelling about 10 times faster than a supersonic jet when it broke apart over Russia with a massive boom. McDonald said that sound which many mistook for a massive bomb blastwas actually an "airburst."

Fridays meteor strike, while an amazing sight, is nothing new.

"Were in a shooting gallery," McDonald said, of Earths spot in the universe. Thousands of small asteroids are constantly streaking past the planet including 2012 DA14, another asteroid that buzzed by Earth on Friday.