United States: On Tuesday, a small asteroid was seen in the sky over northern Siberia as it approached Earth. This is the first of two asteroids that will fly by Earth this week.
The European Space Agency alerted the public about the asteroid, called C0WEPC5, at 4:27 a.m. ET. They said the asteroid, which is about 27 inches in size, would create a visible fireball but that its impact would not harm Earth.
This event marks the fourth asteroid strike detected this year and only the 11th recorded asteroid strike in history.
As reported by the Abc news, detected strikes are known as “imminent impactors,” according to the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, which identified the fast-moving asteroid ahead of its arrival. The space rock entered Earth’s atmosphere at 11:6:15 a.m. ET over Yakutia in northeastern Siberia, triggering a huge fireball visible to the inhabitants of the area, as the agency added.
Footage shared on social media on Tuesday captures the sudden ball of brightly lit, rapidly moving flames above the street, which fades quickly.
Scientists do not yet know whether or how much of asteroid debris came down on the surface of the Earth.
It is not unusual to have fly-by asteroids, and telescopes today are much better than those of the past that’s why astronomers identify them easily now. On average, 132 asteroids are said to have flown past Earth closer than the moon since October 2023.
Altogether, number of approaches of asteroid flies has been identified more than thirty-six thousand, as the agency stated.
Adding to the solar system show this week, another asteroid, known as 2020 XR, will fly by Earth at 12:00 PM The Philae lander departed at 11:07 a.m. CET on Wednesday, or 27 a.m. ET on Wednesday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
While much bigger and therefore classed as a potentially hazardous asteroid, 2020 XR is 1,200 feet in diameter, the size of Empire State Building, and will come as close as 1.37 million miles to Earth, says NASA.
However, the over-scaled asteroid will not pose any form of threat; yet NASA defines every asteroid that comes under its proximity of 4.6 million miles as ‘Potentially Hazardous’.