A roughly 1-meter (3-foot) asteroid burned up in Earth’s atmosphere over the Philippines near Luzon Island early Wednesday afternoon, according to NASA. The European Space Agency estimated the impact occurred at 12:39 p.m. ET (4:39 p.m. UTC).
This screen grab taken from a video shows an asteroid burning up in the night sky as witnessed from Gonzaga in Cagayan province, Philippines, on September 4.
The Catalina Sky Survey discovered the object, initially called CAQTDL2 but now named 2024 RW1, this morning. Asteroids around 1 meter in size are estimated to hit Earth about every two weeks, according to the space agency, though they are very rarely spotted before making impact with the planet.
The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA's DART mission from ~7 miles (12 kilometers) from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. The image shows a patch of the asteroid that is 100 feet (31 meters) across.
Ecliptic north is toward the bottom of the image. This image is shown as it appears on the DRACO detector and is mirror flipped across the x-axis from reality.
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“This is just the ninth asteroid that humankind has ever spotted before impact,” ESA tweeted.
The object was harmless as it was small enough to burn up in the atmosphere upon entry. Sky-gazers in the area posted video on social media that captured a spectacular fireball.
This screen grab taken from a video shows an asteroid burning up in the night sky as witnessed from Gonzaga in Cagayan province, Philippines, on September 4.
The Catalina Sky Survey discovered the object, initially called CAQTDL2 but now named 2024 RW1, this morning. Asteroids around 1 meter in size are estimated to hit Earth about every two weeks, according to the space agency, though they are very rarely spotted before making impact with the planet.
The last complete image of asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, taken by the DRACO imager on NASA's DART mission from ~7 miles (12 kilometers) from the asteroid and 2 seconds before impact. The image shows a patch of the asteroid that is 100 feet (31 meters) across.
Ecliptic north is toward the bottom of the image. This image is shown as it appears on the DRACO detector and is mirror flipped across the x-axis from reality.
NASA spacecraft collision may have created a meteor shower that will last for 100 years
“This is just the ninth asteroid that humankind has ever spotted before impact,” ESA tweeted.
The object was harmless as it was small enough to burn up in the atmosphere upon entry. Sky-gazers in the area posted video on social media that captured a spectacular fireball.
