In the early hours of Sunday morning (January 21), a small asteroid fell from the sky and collided with atmosphere near Berlin, producing a bright phenomenon visible for miles. Such sightings usually happen a few times a year – but this one was unique, because it was first detected by scientists about three hours before the impact.
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The asteroid, named “2024 BXI,” was first discovered by self-proclaimed asteroid hunter Krisztián Sárneczky, an astronomer at Mount Pisketszeto, part of the Konkoly Observatory in Hungary. He identified the stellar rock using the observatory’s 60-centimeter telescope . Shortly after the space rock was discovered, NASA released a detailed forecast of where and when the meteorite.
A live camera in the city of Leipzig in northern Germany captured images of an extremely bright meteor, watching it appear and disappear in a matter of seconds. The asteroid, estimated to have been about 1 meter wide before it hit, likely began to disperse about 50 kilometers west of Berlin and “probably left some meteorites on the ground,” Denis Vida, a postdoctoral researcher in meteorite physics at Western University in Canada, told CBS News.
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Sárneczky has discovered hundreds of asteroids in recent years and was the first to detect asteroid 2022 EB5 about two hours before it entered Earth's atmosphere. He used data from the Konkoly Observatory to detect this incoming rock as well.
Its sighting is incredibly unusual. According to the European Space Agency, 99% of near-Earth asteroids smaller than 30 meters have yet to be discovered. The smaller an asteroid is, the closer it has to be to Earth for scientists to detect it, which makes it difficult to predict impacts in advance, experts say.
In some cases, near-Earth asteroids can be hidden in the sun's glare, such as the meteor that shot from the direction of the rising sun over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. This unexpected space rock shattered windows, temporarily blinded pedestrians, caused immediate ultraviolet burns, and injured more than 1,600 people.
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space agencies are currently developing new technologies to scan the skies for asteroids before they make contact with Earth, including NASA's NEO Surveyor satellite, scheduled for launch in 2027, and ESA's NEOMIR, expected to launch after 2030.
Source: livescience
