The asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere at 11:15 a.m. ET over Yakutia in northeastern Siberia, creating a massive fireball.

Summary

A 27-inch asteroid, C0WEPC5, entered Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia on Tuesday, creating a harmless but visible fireball.

This marked Earth’s fourth detected asteroid strike of the year and only the 11th “imminent impactor” ever recorded.

The asteroid was detected by the Kitt Peak National Observatory ahead of impact, showcasing advancements in asteroid detection.

Separately, a larger asteroid, 2020 XR, measuring 1,200 feet in diameter, will safely pass Earth on Wednesday at a distance of 1.37 million miles.

  • scarabic@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    22 days ago

    This article is mostly a week in the life of our modern detection and monitoring systems, but of course everyone is immediately sucked into the topic of armageddon. The more we can detect, the more insignificant or only mildly interesting objects we will become aware of. So get used to it. There’s going to be asteroid news in our future other than “END OF WORLD NIGH.”