Feb 08, 2017 08:52 AM EST By Eleanor Bright, UniversityHerald Reporter

A meteorite broke into pieces over several states of America last February 6, this year. There was a big boom and green light flashed as the meteorite plunged into Lake Michigan. The incident was captured on video and posted online for all to see.

A meteorologist saw on his radar what looked like clouds but just above was a ball of fire that seemed to hover over Michigan, according to the Washington Post.

This was not the first time than a meteorite hit Earth. Such incidents happened in the past but because the land was still sparsely populated, asteroids and meteorites usually hit unpopulated places.

The question of the extent of damage if an asteroid or meteorite hit New York made people shiver with fear. Based on projections made by NASA, if an asteroid hit New York, there would be 2.5 millions of casualties. The fireball would have a radius of more than one mile. All structures within 1 2.4 mile radius would be totally destroyed. Those within the 4.2 mile radius would collapse, according to Forbes.

To prevent this catastrophe from happening, NASA has been keeping watch of the skies above Earth. The agency had mapped out almost all of the heavenly bodies. By doing this, such catastrophic event will be avoided.

However, not all of these objects could be monitored. Some are too deep in space that NASA's telescope cannot detect them, according to Vocativ. Because NASA did not notice them, they cannot predict when one would hit Earth.

With advanced technology, movements of these deadly heavenly bodies can be detected in advance. There will be time to evacuate a whole city, even a city as big as New York.

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