A small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up early Sunday morning over eastern Germany.
A video shared on social media throughout the day shows the shiny object descending over Europe shortly after Hungarian researcher and self-proclaimed “asteroid hunter” Krystian Sarnetski spotted it from an observatory in Hungary. was. Sarnetsky is best known for discovering asteroids and other space objects heading toward our planet, including two asteroids that crashed into France in 2023 and the Arctic Ocean in 2022, respectively. earth skyis an astronomy website run by scientists and experts in the field.
Augustus Square Live Camera via Denis Vida of X
Dennis Vida, a PhD student, said the asteroid spotted early Sunday was about 1 meter long from end to end. He is an associate professor of meteor physics at Western University in Canada. Global Meteor Projectaims to use a global collaboration of space-pointed cameras to better observe meteors.
vida share One of the clearest video clips of a falling asteroidIt was originally captured by a livestream camera installed in the German city of Leipzig and posted on X, formerly Twitter. Alongside the video, Vida wrote that the asteroid “probably dropped some meteorites to the ground” as it broke through the atmosphere. He said in an email to CBS News that the asteroid began disintegrating about 30 miles, or 50 kilometers, west of Berlin.
The asteroid was originally called Sar2736 before the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center officially named it 2024 BX1, EarthSky reports. Funded by a grant through NASA’s Near-Earth Observation Program, the Minor Planet Center collects data on comets and “irregular natural satellites outside major planets,” including their sizes and various locations. The data are collected from observatories around the country. Website.
Note: A small asteroid is scheduled to disintegrate in a harmless fireball at 1:32 a.m. Central European Time near Nenhausen, west of Berlin. If it’s sunny, the director will probably see it too!
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) January 21, 2024
The center’s data log for 2024 BX1 shows input from numerous observatories in various European countries, including Hungary and Germany, as well as Spain, Croatia, and Romania.
NASA Asteroid Watch first warned of the asteroid’s impending arrival. social media posts I shared it on Saturday evening.
“Attention: A small asteroid will disintegrate as a harmless fireball near Nenhausen, west of Berlin, shortly at 1:32 a.m. CET. If it’s clear, observers will see it!” the post read. Ta.
The space agency’s predictions were correct, and the asteroid rained down on central Europe just after midnight. “fireball,” An astronomical term for a shooting star, the bureau defines it as “a very bright meteor that is so spectacular that it can be seen over a very wide area.”
