Fridge-sized asteroid hit Earth two hours after it was discovered

An asteroid across the dimension of a fridge was noticed hours earlier than it hit Earth’s ambiance, and whereas it wasn’t harmful, it marked the fifth time in historical past an asteroid was detected proper earlier than hitting our planet. 

On March 11, astronomer Krisztian Sarneczky observed an asteroid on the Piszkéstető Observatory in Hungary. Sarneczky reported it to the Worldwide Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Heart, which confirmed it was the primary time the asteroid had been noticed. 

NASA’s “Scout” system, which continuously searches the Minor Planet Heart’s database for any potential impacts, then calculated the asteroid’s orbit, discovering that the asteroid would definitely hit Earth. The system then notified the Heart for Close to Earth Object Research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and different asteroid affect techniques. 

Fortunately for Earth, the asteroid, named 2022 EB5, was round 6½-feet-long, a dimension “too small to pose a hazard to Earth,” NASA stated in a press release. 

“Scout” decided the asteroid would enter Earth’s ambiance round Jan Mayen, a Norwegian island roughly 300 miles northeast of Iceland. At 5:23 p.m. ET, two hours after the asteroid was first noticed by Sarneczky, the asteroid hit Earth’s ambiance simply as “Scout” predicted.

It was the fifth time an asteroid was noticed hours earlier than it hit Earth and the primary time it is occurred since 2019.

“Scout had solely 14 observations over 40 minutes from one observatory to work with when it first recognized the article as an impactor. We have been in a position to decide the doable affect areas, which initially prolonged from western Greenland to off the coast of Norway,” stated Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer who developed Scout. “As extra observatories tracked the asteroid, our calculations of its trajectory and affect location turned extra exact.”

The Worldwide Meteor Group stated no meteorites from the asteroid have been recovered, however some folks in Iceland reported seeing vivid flashes, indicating the area rock turned a fireball.

Paul Chodas, director of the Heart for Close to Earth Object Research, stated asteroids like 2022 EB5 enter Earth’s ambiance round each 10 months, but it surely’s onerous to identify one earlier than it is already entered the ambiance. 

“Only a few of those asteroids have really been detected in area and noticed extensively previous to affect, principally as a result of they’re very faint till the previous few hours, and a survey telescope has to look at simply the proper spot of sky on the proper time for one to be detected,” Chodas stated.

Shut name: 230-foot vast asteroid initially anticipated to hit Earth in 2023 was false alarm

Asteroid and dinosaurs: New analysis says asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hit Earth within the spring

Whereas this asteroid snuck up on astronomers, there isn’t any want to fret a couple of greater, catastrophic asteroid doing the identical. NASA stated bigger asteroids are simpler to identify and may be discovered far prematurely. The company famous this asteroid confirmed their techniques may be extremely correct in projecting an object’s seemingly affect location and would assist planetary protection techniques to be totally ready.

Presently, NASA is testing its planetary protection techniques ought to a harmful asteroid have been ever to hit Earth.

NASA launched the DART system in November, which can hit the asteroid moon of Didymos in September, with the purpose of figuring out whether or not crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid might change its course. 

Comply with Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

What’s everybody speaking about?: Join our trending publication to get the newest information of the day