ru24.pro
News in English
Декабрь
2024
1 2 3 4 5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

Small asteroid hit Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia today

0


This weather webcam out of Russia shows the small asteroid as it hit Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia around 16:14 UTC (10:14 a.m. CST December 3 and 1:14 a.m. local time December 4) today.

Small asteroid hit Earth’s atmosphere today

This morning (05:55 UTC on December 3, 2024) astronomers discovered a small asteroid, somewhere in size between 0.5 to 1.2 meters (1.6 to 4 feet) … and it’s already struck Earth. The asteroid, first named C0WEPC5 and now officially designated 2024 XA1, harmlessly entered Earth’s atmosphere around 16:14 UTC (10:14 a.m. CST December 3 or 1:14 a.m. local time on December 4) over Eastern Siberia. This tiny asteroid created a nice fireball in dark skies. It’s possible small fragments reached the ground.

You may recall the impressive Tunguska event – when a large asteroid created an airburst that flattened hundreds of square miles of trees in 1908 – also happened in Eastern Siberia. Today’s event was much, much smaller. It would have hit at about the same latitude and around 18 degrees further east, or about a thousand kilometers away from the famous event.

According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch, astronomers first made the discovery:

… with the University of Arizona’s Bok telescope by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey and Spacewatch. The impact prediction was made by the Scout system at NASAJPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

The incoming asteroid had a velocity of about 9.6 miles per second (15.5 km/s) with a moderate angle of 58 degrees. And it came in from the southeast. According to Sam Deen’s predictions on the Minor Planet Mailing List, it might have been possible for people in Yakutsk, Mirny, Norilsk or Dudinka to see it.

A small asteroid will hit Earth’s atmosphere and harmlessly burn up above Siberia on December 3, 2024. The dark cross with greenish center at upper is the approximate impact zone. Image via Richard Moissl.

Sightings of the asteroid shared on social media

The small asteroid made a pretty bright splash in the night sky over Siberia. Here’s a video from Bluesky:

??? Asteroid in Yakutia, Russia

[image or embed]

— MAKS 24 ??? (@maks23.bsky.social) December 3, 2024 at 10:41 AM

And check out the following images posted on X:

Images of the small asteroid before it hit

Mohammad Shawkat Odeh, director of the International Astronomical Center in the UAE, caught images of the asteroid just before it hit Earth. Mohammad gave EarthSky permission to share the following image and video. Thank you, Mohammad!

Here is C2WEPC5 before impact on December 3, 2024. Image via Mohammad Shawkat Odeh of Al Khatim Observatory in the UAE. Used with permission.

4th asteroid to hit Earth’s atmosphere in 2024

This is only the 11th time ever and the 4th time this year that astronomers have spotted an asteroid just before it crashed into Earth’s atmosphere. Earlier this year a 3 feet (1 meter) asteroid hit over the Pacific Ocean on October 22, and another one of similar size struck the atmosphere above the Philippines on September 4. And the first one this year hit above Germany on January 21.

With our increasing technology, we are able to spot more of these little asteroids before they hit us. According to NASA:

Every day, Earth is bombarded with more than 100 tons of dust and sand-sized particles. About once a year, an automobile-sized asteroid hits Earth’s atmosphere, creates an impressive fireball, and burns up before reaching the surface.

Bottom line: A small asteroid harmlessly hit Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia in Russia today. More info with a map and images of the fireball here.

Via IMO

Via NASA Asteroid Watch

The post Small asteroid hit Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia today first appeared on EarthSky.