Meteor clean-up operation

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki from the University of Sydney said not enough money is being spent on researching a researching meteor collision. Speaking on the BBC Radio World Service, he said:

Dr Kruszelnicki said there were two possible ways to averting a potential meteoric disaster: painting the meteor white, so that the sun exerts more pressure on it, thus pushing past earth, or using a rocket to push it out of the earth's path. He explained:

Tim O'Brien, associate director of the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory, has described the metoer which exploded in southern Russia on Friday as a "completely abnormal experience".

Russian authorities have reportedly sent a 20,000-strong team to the Ural Mountains to help with the rescue and clean-up operation after a meteor struck the area.

The 10-ton meteor, thought to be made of iron, exploded over the Chelyabinsk region in southern Russia yesterday morning.

More than 1,000 people were injured when the meteor, which was travelling at over 54,000mph, streaked through the atmosphere and created a sonic boom.

Hundreds of people were injured when glass shattered in countless windows in the area.

According to Russia's Academy of Sciences, the meteor broke apart 30-50km (20-30 miles) above the Earth's surface, releasing several kilotonnes of energy - the same as a small atomic weapon - the BBC said.

Huge chunks of space rock crashed to earth after a meteor exploded in the skies over Russia, with the power of an atomic bomb.

It was travelling so fast it created a sonic boom that shattered thousands of windows which, in turn, injured more than seven hundred people around the Russian city of Chelyabinsk.

ITV News correspondent Paul Davies reports:

Read: 10 ton meteor leaves hundreds injured.

Read: Asteroid 'near-miss' with Earth.

As a meteor streaked at supersonic speed across the clear skies of Russia, people cried out in panic that the world was ending. Hundreds were injured, as the shockwaves from a huge sonic blast shattered windows and buckled roofs and walls.

Fragments of the exploding meteor fell to earth in central Russia, around the city of Chelyabinsk, a thousand miles east of Moscow.

ITV News correspondent Paul Davies reports:

CCTV footage captured the moment teachers and pupils scattered as the Russian meteor hit. The blast shattered the windows of the building in the Chelyabinsk region of the country.

Despite it not making contact, nearly 1,000 people were injured after the meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains this morning.

Read more: Injuries after meteor hits Russia.

A similar-sized meteor to the one that exploded in the sky over Russia would cause "significant fatalities" if it hit Earth.

But the 10-ton meteor was "very small" comparatively and objects of that size rarely penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, according to Hugh Lewis of the University of Southampton.

Experts said the meteor appeared to be unconnected to an asteroid predicted to narrowly miss the Earth tonight.

The asteroid, named 2012 DA14, is big enough to flatten London and could come as close as 17,200 miles.

• Read more: Asteroid to narrowly miss Earth.
• Watch Nasa's live stream of the asteroid from 7pm GMT.

Footage from Russia shows the impact of a meteor blast on an office as it explodes in the Chelyabinsk region of the country.

According to the latest count, more than 750 people were hurt.

Read more: Injuries after meteor hits Russia.

Video footage from a school classroom shows pupils and a teacher in shock as the school's windows shatter from the impact of a meteorite that had exploded in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia.

More than 750 people were injured.

Read more: Injuries after meteor hits Russia.