A small asteroid on a collision course with Earth right this moment burned up harmlessly in Earth’s environment.
The European House Company (ESA) says a 3-foot (1-meter) asteroid struck the environment and burned up harmlessly on Wednesday (Sept. 4) round 12:46 p.m. ET (1646 GMT) above the western Pacific Ocean close to Luzon Island within the Philippines.
The asteroid, referred to as 2024 RW1, was found right this moment by analysis technologist Jacqueline Fazekas with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded observatory close to Tucson, Arizona devoted to monitoring and cataloging near-Earth objects. It was solely the ninth asteroid that has been noticed previous to influence, ESA wrote in a put up on X .
A number of photos and movies of 2024 WR1 ☄️, whereas ready for extra bodily properies of the small close to Earth asteroid and related fireball…https://t.co/1Yycwvd8b4 pic.twitter.com/fCXeIhDjo4September 4, 2024
NASA’s Asteroid Watch web site predicted that the influence may create a fireball seen from the east coast of the Philippines, and lots of movies posted to social media confirmed a brilliant inexperienced fireball above the island nation.
NASA’s Planetary Protection Coordination Workplace mentioned the influence was detected by a number of sensors.
A number of photos and movies of 2024 WR1 ☄️, whereas ready for extra bodily properies of the small close to Earth asteroid and related fireball…https://t.co/1Yycwvd8b4 pic.twitter.com/fCXeIhDjo4September 4, 2024
Planetary protection, which entails looking for near-Earth asteroids reminiscent of 2024 RW1 and cataloging them for monitoring, has grow to be a serious precedence for house companies worldwide. In 2022, NASA’s DART mission crashed an impactor right into a double asteroid system in an try to vary its trajectory.
NASA can be planning a brand new infrared telescope referred to as NEO Surveyor, and China is creating its personal mission to deflect an asteroid by 2030.
