We've learned the Ohio meteor was about 6 feet in diameter, 7 tons in weight and moving at about 40K mph, correct?

Yes, that's about all we know. Unless such bolides, or bright meteors, come down in a region where meteor watch cameras are stationed that support recording spectra, we only get the size from the approximate brightness and sonic boom and the trajectory from accidental recordings. Good numbers are generally to be had from NASA’s Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change.

Do we know where it originated?

Determining the origin of such objects is very tricky. The American Meteor Society tracks eye witness reports but unless both, the event was recorded and the location of the observer was cataloged extremely well, the uncertainties in the orbit reconstruction are so large that it is virtually impossible to determine the exact origin.

In this case we may be a bit more lucky than usual because the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's, or NOAA. GOES-19 satellite also detected the streak. Analyzing such data is not easy, however, and can take months.

It wasn't detected until it entered Earth's atmosphere, right? Was it too small to be seen earlier?

Yes, such small objects are very difficult to spot. We basically have no idea how many of those objects are out there and that will likely not change much. They are very, very faint and the light pollution satellites cause doesn’t help astronomers in that regard.

On the other hand, most of those objects don't make it to the ground, so they are only dangerous to air traffic and satellites. Even then the probability of collision is relatively low because the objects move so fast. The more airplanes are up and the more satellites we have, however, the higher the eventual risk will be for collisions.  

The American Meteor Society received reports from 223 people who spotted it, including some in Illinois.

How common are meteors of this scale and how often do they produce shock waves strong enough to shake buildings, as reported across Northeast Ohio?

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and NASA DART put together information in a nice graphic. We’re talking billions of objects in the 1–2-meter size category like the Ohio meteor, that hit us roughly once per year. Conversely, there are only about a half billion 4-meter-sized objects, because the larger asteroids are the rarer they are.

When objects larger than a meter in size enter the atmosphere, they almost always produce noticeable shockwaves. How powerful those are and how much damage those can do depends on the size of the objects and entry conditions, such as how fast they are and how "steep" they dive into the atmosphere, etc. All those objects enter with hypersonic speeds and when they disintegrate they turn a good fraction of their kinetic energy into heat and the shockwave.

In 2013, a roughly 18 meter-sized object entered the atmosphere over the Russian City of Chelyabinsk. Its trajectory was quite flat and the resulting shockwave was powerful enough to destroy windows sending more than 1,000 people to seek medical care afterwards.

What are the largest sources of uncertainty when modeling the path of a fast-moving object entering the atmosphere?

The biggest sources of uncertainty, especially during daytime is the lack of background stars to do proper astrometry. Background stars can be used as navigation beacons that can tell astronomers very accurately where objects are. During daylight it is very difficult to determine the actual path of the bolide. In the best-case scenario, multiple stations or observers have detected the same event from multiple stations. Then the trajectory can be triangulated relatively well.

Another challenge is that these objects become very bright very quickly, which sometimes also causes issues with locating the center in detectors. Finally, once they are slowing down, atmospheric uncertainties, such as local wind speeds can also play a role in determining the exact trajectory.

Photo by Dana W. in Munhall, Pennsylvania uploaded to the American Meteor Society site.

What are the most common misconceptions about meteors that you've encountered?

One is that folks take the term "shooting star" literally. Meteors are not stars, luckily, otherwise they would be the size of the sun, and we'd be in much bigger trouble.

Another misconception is that last meteor that hit the Earth was the one that killed the dinosaurs. We had plenty of impacts since then, for instance the impact that produced the Meteor Crater in Arizona 50,000 years ago. Fortunately, collisions with kilometer-sized "killer asteroids" are rare, but smaller impacts, even those that can wipe out cities or smaller states are much more common, as shown in the JHU NASA DART graphic.

Another thing I’ve heard is that if you find a piece of a meteorite, you own it. It actually gets quite complicated and different rules apply in different countries. In the U.S., as far as I know, the owner of the land the meteorite was found has the right to claim it. This story about meteor ownership contains a photo of Ann Elizabeth Hodges who was struck by a meteorite.

Video sent to the American Meteor Society from David Hamann in Ravenna, Ohio.

Are there times when a meteor does or doesn't produce a boom?

Meteors always produce a sonic boom, because they enter the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds. However, the power of that boom depends on the size. Pebble-sized meteors that produce "shooting stars" are small enough that sonic booms are not necessarily noticeable on the ground.

Sonic boom as captured by Ryan Connor in North Royalton, Ohio and reported to the American Meteor Society.

How do you and your colleagues use information about events like this one to better understand and predict orbital debris entering our atmosphere?

I have to admit that here at U. of I. we are more concerned with "City-killers" and larger asteroids — like the asteroid 2024YR4 that briefly had a non-negligible chance to hit the Earth or the Moon in 2032 — and leave the study of smaller meteorites to specialists.

We do, however, use the information bolides provide to estimate the orbital distribution on the lower end of the size scale. A very recent near-Earth object model takes those into account specifically.  And another paper by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and myself, lays out how we study potential impactors.

How does an event like the Ohio meteor fit into the broader context of planetary defense planning?

Because we know so little of and about objects 50m in size and smaller, plan A is to not deflect them, but to provide as much warning time as possible. If needed FEMA would evacuate regions in the U.S. that would be affected by an impact. For more detailed information, folks can consult NASA’s national preparedness strategy and action plan for planetary defense.

How will the new observatory in Chile help with detection?

The Vera C. Rubin observatory that’s coming online this year will help us boost our ability to spot asteroids between 50-160 meters significantly. After 10 years, the aim is to know where 90 percent of all potentially hazardous asteroids, 140m and larger, are located and whether or not they pose a risk of impact in the next century.