A meteor 15 meters wide and weighing 10 tons exploded over Russia's Chelyabinsk region on Friday, creating a shockwave that has injured over 1,100 people, most due to the shattered glass from windows blown out by the explosion that was 185 times more powerful than a WWII atomic bomb.

The meteor entered the Earth's atmosphere at about 9:20 am local time at speeds reaching 40,000 mph, according to NASA.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening," one Chelyabinsk resident told the Associated Press. "We saw a big burst of light, then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud, thundering sound."

City officials said that at least 3,000 buildings were damaged by the explosion, including a collapsed roof at a zinc factory's warehouse.  No deaths were reported.  

Russian television stations have shown videos of windows and doors getting blown out by the meteorite's explosion, including athletes at a sports game getting pelted by a shower of broken glass from large windows in the arena.    Other videos from dashboard car cameras show the meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere and giving off more light than the sun. 

The amount of energy released in the explosion is estimated to be hundreds of kilotons, equivalent to 185 of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II.  It is the largest meteor reported in Russia since 1908, when a meteor landed in Tunguska, Siberia and flattened 80 million trees.

The Los Angeles Times reports that NASA scientists have not found any relation between the Russian meteor and the asteroid 2012 DA14, which passed close to Earth today.  Unlike the asteroid, the meteor was too small for satellites to track and was a surprise to astronomers.

Watch amateur videos of the Russian meteor impact below.  Be advised that some videos contain extremely loud audio of the explosion and should be watched on low volume.

Reach Executive Producer Jeremy Here.  Follow him on Twitter Here