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A tiny asteroid collides with Earth and disintegrates above Siberia

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Webcam images show asteroid burning up in the atmosphere over Siberia

Lensk LR/YouTube

Astronomers discovered the asteroid, about 70 centimeters in diameter, hours before it exploded harmlessly into the atmosphere above Siberia.

european space agency (ESA) issued an alert at 9:27 a.m. GMT, warning that space rocks could illuminate the skies over northern Siberia at around 11:15 p.m. local time (4:15 p.m. GMT).

Speaking before the event, Alan Fitzsimmons from Britain’s Queen’s University Belfast says objects of this size pose no danger to people on the ground, but early warnings are a positive sign that our ability to detect these objects before they hit Earth is increasing.

“It’s small, but it’s still going to be pretty spectacular,” Fitzsimmons said. “The sky above the impact site will darken and a very impressive, very bright fireball will spread across the sky for hundreds of kilometers around it.”

Several objects of this size collide with Earth every year, and we are getting better at detecting them early. The first discovery was in 2008. The next discovery was made six years later, but the pace of observations has picked up. Today’s asteroid, named C0WEPC5, is the fourth predicted to hit Earth this year.

Early warning of small asteroids gives astronomers the opportunity to observe them, collect data, and even try to collect any small pieces that survive. Fitzsimmons said the first such predicted impact in 2008 led to the recovery of a small piece of rock and generated important science. “What was beautiful was that the meteorite’s reflectivity matched exactly what was measured by telescopes before the impact, and it was a perfect match between what we saw in space and what we later found on Earth. It shows a very nice direct connection,” he says.

Detecting larger, more dangerous objects heading toward Earth could provide an opportunity to deflect them or at least evacuate the dangerous area.

A map showing where the asteroid is predicted to hit Siberia’s atmosphere.

ESA

NASA and ESA currently have dedicated programs for asteroid discovery and tracking. This involves a large network of dedicated observatories and amateur astronomers who read the positions of known objects so that their orbits can be better understood and predicted.

This latest asteroid was discovered by NASA’s Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). ATLAS operates four telescopes around the world and is designed to provide up to a week of collision warning.

“This is a victory for science, If you happen to be in Siberia this evening, there will definitely be something to take your mind off the very cold temperatures,” says Fitzsimmons.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

2024 RW1: Tiny asteroid strikes Earth and disintegrates above the Philippines

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Predicted trajectory of asteroid CAQTDL2 over the Philippines

Catalina Sky Survey/ESA

The asteroid struck Earth and burned up in the atmosphere east of the Philippines. Astronomers spotted it just hours before it streaked across the sky in a bright fireball, but many on the ground couldn’t see it because of cloudy skies caused by Typhoon Enteng.

The asteroid, estimated to be about one meter in diameter, was a NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. It was originally designated CAQTDL2 and was later renamed 2024 RW1.

As expected, the asteroid struck the east of the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago at around 1645 GMT, 1745 London time, 1245 New York time, or 0045 local time. The impact speed was predicted to be 17.6 kilometers per second, or 63,360 kilometers per hour. Alan Fitzsimmons. That’s average for such an object, says a researcher at Queen’s University in Belfast, UK. “Don’t be fooled by Hollywood movies where you see something screaming into the sky and you have time to run out the house, grab your cat, hop in your car and drive somewhere. You don’t have time for that,” he says.

Asteroid CAQTDL2 can be seen moving across the sky in a purple circle.

Catalina Sky Survey

Luckily, no evacuations were necessary: NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office posted on social media that the asteroid “safely impacted Earth’s atmosphere.”

“Something that small wouldn’t do any damage on the ground because the Earth’s atmosphere blocks that,” Fitzsimmons said. Video shared on social media from Cagayan province in the northern tip of the Philippines shows a flickering green fireball appearing behind a cloud, followed by an orange tail, before disappearing a few seconds later.

Fitzsimmons said two to three objects this size hit Earth every year, and early detection is becoming more common – astronomers detected the first near-Earth asteroid before it fell to Earth in 2008. 2024 RW1 will be the ninth asteroid to be accurately predicted to hit Earth.

“The really good thing about this is that our survey telescopes are now good enough to detect these objects as they approach and to provide a warning,” he says. “In other words, if this object was bigger and potentially threatening to people on the ground, it would have appeared brighter and projected farther. So this is a really cool demonstration that our current survey systems work really well. Right now, we’re probably averaging about one asteroid per year that gets detected before it hits the atmosphere, and survey systems are getting better and better.”

Not only is Earth developing and improving its early warning systems, but in 2022 NASA’s Dual Asteroid Reorientation Test (DART) spacecraft proved it could potentially save Earth from a catastrophic impact with a larger object. DART struck the 160-meter-wide moonlet Dimorphos, slowing it slightly, demonstrating that in theory such a disaster could be averted. Next month, the European Space Agency will launch the Hera mission to study the consequences of the impact in detail and further our understanding of planetary defense.

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Source: www.newscientist.com