Thursday’s meteor captivated many across the Southeast, but perhaps no one was quite as thrilled as the amateur meteorite chasers who track down bits of space rock and the astronomy researchers whose lifework is analyzing space activity.

Toshi Hirabayashi, a Georgia Tech associate professor who studies space operations, celestial mechanics, and planetary science, quickly began analyzing videos of the fireball Thursday “just for fun.”

Based on his rough calculations, the object was moving “definitely faster than 10 miles per second” or roughly 36,000 mph, he said.

While it’s fun to see smaller meteorites hit the Earth, it’s critical to prepare for when a larger meteor comes blazing in and does real damage. In 2013, a meteor the size of a house exploded 14 miles above Russia, Hirabayashi said.

“We are working so hard to monitor, as well as develop technologies to defend Earth,” he said.

Hirabayashi was also cited in articles published by FoxWeather and WSB TV.