Observers were stunned as a bright fireball asteroid burnt in the atmosphere over the Philippines on Wednesday, September 4. Research technologist Jacqueline Fazekas discovered the asteroid known as 2024 RW1 with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona.
Here’s a video that shows the asteroid 2024 rw1 as it burns up in the atmosphere.
The European space agency took over on X just before the strike and said, “The object is harmless, but people in the area may see a spectacular fireball!”
⚠️☄️Incoming!
A roughly 1 metre asteroid will strike Earth’s atmosphere over the Philippines near Luzon Island at 17:08 UTC today, 4 September.
The object is harmless, but people in the area may see a spectacular fireball!
Discovered this morning by the Catalina Sky Survey,… pic.twitter.com/UjQLbh3fFr
— European Space Agency (@esa) September 4, 2024
The small, 3-foot asteroid burnt up in the skies over the Philippines, creating a bright, mind-boggling fireball. The asteroid struck Earth on Wednesday around 12:46 pm ET (1646 GMT). It hit Earth at an expected speed of 17.6 kilometres per second, or 63,360 kilometres per hour.
Such encounters don’t always occur; most small asteroids burn up in the atmosphere before reaching us, and the large asteroids classified as Near earth Objects (NEO’s), like asteroid 2024 PQ5, asteroid 2011 MW1, and asteroid 2020 RL that flew by Earth recently are a threat you would never want to encounter!
