Asteroid Strikes Earth, Creating Spectacular Fireball
In a dramatic celestial event, a small asteroid collided with Earth on Wednesday, creating a vivid fireball over the Philippines. The European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that the 3-foot (1-meter) asteroid entered the atmosphere around 12:46 p.m. ET on September 4, disintegrating above the western Pacific Ocean near Luzon Island.
Discovered just hours before the impact
Named 2024 RW1, the asteroid was discovered only hours before impact by Jacqueline Fazekas, a research technologist with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey. This observatory, located near Tucson, Arizona, is dedicated to tracking and cataloging near-Earth objects. ESA noted in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that this asteroid was only the ninth to be detected before it struck Earth.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office also reported the collision on its X account, confirming that multiple sensors detected the impact.
Fireball lights up the sky
As the asteroid burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, it created a striking green fireball. Witnesses captured videos of the event, sharing them widely on social media platforms.
Global efforts to track near-Earth objects
Space agencies worldwide have been intensifying efforts to identify and monitor near-Earth objects (NEOs). A notable mission in this endeavor is NASA’s Double Asteroids Redirect Test (DART), which aimed to understand how potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) could be deflected if they posed a threat to Earth. The DART mission involved impacting Dimorphos, a moonlet of the larger asteroid Didymos, causing debris to scatter in space. Scientists now believe that some of this debris could reach Mars and the Earth-Moon system within a decade, according to simulations conducted as part of a study.
Preparing for Apophis in 2029
The world is also gearing up for the close approach of Apophis, dubbed the “god of chaos” asteroid, in 2029. Current observations indicate that Apophis will safely pass by Earth, posing no threat in 2029, 2036, and 2068. However, a new study suggests that the asteroid could still collide with Earth if another space rock alters its trajectory.
Canadian astronomer Paul Wiegert’s research indicates that an object approximately 0.6 meters (2 feet) in size could change Apophis’s path, potentially setting it up for a future collision with Earth. A more significant impact becomes likely if Apophis were to collide with an object around 3.4 meters (11.2 feet) in size.
Future of asteroid detection and deflection
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is developing the NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor), an asteroid-hunting spacecraft designed to identify asteroids and comets heading toward Earth. Meanwhile, China is also planning its mission to deflect an asteroid by 2030.
In summary, as the recent asteroid collision over the Philippines demonstrates, the efforts of space agencies to detect and monitor NEOs are crucial in understanding and mitigating potential threats from space.