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“Asteroids: Second huge near-miss of the week lighting up Siberian sky!”.
Asteroid nearly hits Earth in Siberia, second massive asteroid pass this week
The asteroid entered the atmosphere over northeastern Siberia on Tuesday morning.
NASA says mysterious explosion was caused by meteorite
A small asteroid appeared over northern Siberia on Tuesday, coming close to hitting Earth.
It’s the first of two potential asteroid strikes this week.
Asteroid Lights Up Siberian Sky Amidst Week of Close Encounters
The European Space Agency issued a warning for the 27-inch asteroid at 4:27 a.m. ET, with the agency saying the celestial rock would create a visible fireball in the sky, but “the impact would be harmless.”
The asteroid, temporarily named C0WEPC5, is the fourth asteroid strike detected on Earth this year and only the 11th so far.
The detected strikes are known as “imminent impactors,” according to Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, which identified the fast-moving asteroid ahead of its arrival.
An image posted to the European Space Agency X account on Dec. 3, 2024, shows the path of a small asteroid that is set to hit Earth.
European Space Agency
More: What NASA learned from the DART mission
According to the agency, the space rock entered Earth’s atmosphere at 11:15 a.m. ET over Yakutia in northeastern Siberia, creating a giant fireball that was seen by people in the area.
Video posted to social media on Tuesday shows the bright, fast-moving fireball flying across the sky.
It’s currently unknown how much debris from the asteroid has landed on Earth, if any at all.
Fly-by asteroids are common, and astronomers’ ability to detect them has grown exponentially with technological advancements.
More: ‘Asteroid hunters’ are taking a deep dive into the giant space body that’s set to pass close to Earth
According to NASA, 132 known asteroids have passed closer than Earth’s moon since October 2023.
More than 36,000 asteroids have passed in total, the agency reported.
Another asteroid in the solar system show this week, known as 2020 XR, will fly past Earth on Wednesday at 12:27 a.m. ET, according to NASA’s Jet Propuhttps://www.jpl.nasa.gov/lsion Laboratory.
Much larger than Tuesday’s asteroid but farther away from impact, 2020 XR has a diameter of about 1,200 feet — about the same as New York City’s Empire State Building — but it will pass at a comfortable distance of 1.37 million miles from Earth, according to NASA.
Although the giant asteroid is unlikely to impact Earth, and officials don’t consider it a threat, NASA considers any object that comes within 4.6 million miles of Earth to be “potentially hazardous.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, this week’s close encounters with asteroids are a stark reminder of Earth’s vulnerability to celestial hazards. Although the recent Siberian fireball and giant asteroid flyby posed no immediate threat, they highlight the importance of continued monitoring and preparedness. With advances in space technology, the global community must work together to enhance our ability to detect, track, and potentially mitigate the risks posed by near-Earth objects. These events underscore the need for vigilance as we share a universe that is both awe-inspiring and unpredictable.
These occurrences highlight the importance of monitoring near-Earth objects. The recent Siberian fireball is reminiscent of the 1908 Tunguska event, where a much larger asteroid exploded over Siberia, flattening approximately 830 square miles of forest.
Space agencies worldwide continue to enhance detection and tracking systems to better predict and understand the behavior of such celestial objects, aiming to mitigate potential threats to Earth.
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