A team of amateur and professional astronomers has made a very interesting discovery. A piece of the meteoroid/asteroid that astronomers predicted would hit Earth on Sunday night has been found in Normandy, France.
Vigie Ciel, an organization in France that monitors meteors and space rocks that fall to Earth, announced the discovery . The piece is from a meteoroid that traveled to Earth on Sunday and was visible in the sky over northern France and elsewhere. Thousands of people watched the spectacular phenomenon, while dozens were able to capture it, as astronomers had predicted its passage at about the same point.
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The French organization created a team of amateur and professional astronomers to research and search for any remnants of the asteroid.
According to Vigie Ciel, an 18-year-old student named Loïs Leblanc discovered a mysterious “dark stone” in a field near Saint-Pierre-le Viger. After careful examination, experts confirmed that it was indeed debris from Sunday’s meteorite!
Named SAR 2667 and then 2023 CX1, the asteroid was estimated to be about one meter in size before it entered Earth's atmosphere. Experts had predicted that it would be visible in northern France, giving many citizens a unique opportunity to watch and record this celestial body as it left its mark on the evening sky.
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Based on astronomical observations and ground-based public video footage, Vigie Ciel was able to estimate roughly where asteroid 2023 CX1 may have landed in northern France. Furthermore, their analysis suggested that parts of this meteorite could still remain intact, given its size and speed as it entered Earth's atmosphere.
Vigie Ciel did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how it linked the fragment to the meteorite. However, meteorites can be identified by certain characteristics. For example, they have burn marks from entering the atmosphere. They are also usually rich in iron, which makes them readily attracted to magnets.
At the moment, we don't know what will happen to the piece that was found. However, Vigie Ciel is determined to gather more teams of astronomers to search for possible other fragments of 2023 CX1 that may have landed on French soil.
It is the seventh time that astronomers have spotted an asteroid or meteoroid in space before it passes through Earth's atmosphere. "The last three impacts occurred in the last 12 months." According to the European Space Agency, this shows that methods for detecting celestial bodies have improved significantly.
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Fortunately, asteroid 2023 CX1 was too small to cause any damage. However, astronomers remain on the lookout for much larger asteroids that could cause massive destruction if they ever hit our planet. For some time now, both NASA and the European Space Agency have been working on projects designed to change the course of a potential asteroid invader so that it does not hit Earth. In late September, NASA completed a very ambitious mission, hitting an asteroid with a spacecraft . NASA's , slightly changing its orbit. pioneering planetary defense probe, DART, collided with the asteroid Dimorphos The successful test shows a possible planetary defense strategy to protect Earth from dangerous objects that could threaten our planet .
Source: www.pcmag.com
