A small asteroid lit up the skies over northern Siberia on Wednesday (December 4) after burning up in Earth's atmosphere in a "spectacular" (but harmless) fireball
See also: Asteroid hit Earth a few hours after it was detected
Astronomers spotted the space rock, measuring 70 centimeters in diameter, in the early hours of Wednesday local time, a few hours before the space rock entered the atmosphere.
C0WEPC5, as the asteroid has been provisionally named, entered Earth's atmosphere at 1:15 a.m. local time on Dec. 4 over Russia's remote Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, in northeastern Siberia. Local officials were put on alert, Sakha's emergencies ministry said, but no damage was reported from the fall.
Footage of the fireball was shared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Sakha on Telegram. The video was from colleagues at the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Olekminsky and the residents of the city.
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NASA 's Asteroid Late Warning System (ATLAS) spotted the space rock 12 hours before it entered our atmosphere, the ESA said , making it the fourth so-called " imminent impactor " detected so far this year and the 11th overall.
While asteroids like C0WEPC5 do not pose a threat to the planet, the existence of these detection systems gives astronomers the opportunity to identify and deflect larger and more dangerous objects on a collision with Earth.
See also: Flaming meteorite passed over Lake Erie
As a result, both NASA and ESA have dedicated programs to detect and track these near-Earth objects. Fortunately, no known asteroids pose a threat to Earth for at least the next 100 years.
Source: space.com
