WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A very small earth-bound asteroid has exploded as fireball mid air before landing in Germany, NASA reports.
The U.S. space agency said the 3 feet-sized asteroid disintegrated harmlessly over Germany on January 21, one and a half hour before it would have impacted Earth's atmosphere.
NASA's Scout impact hazard assessment system, which monitors data on potential asteroid discoveries, gave advance warning as to where and when the asteroid would impact.
This is the eighth time in history that a small Earth-bound asteroid has been detected while still in space, before entering and disintegrating in earth's atmosphere.
The asteroid's impact produced a bright fireball, known as bolide, which was seen from as far away as the Czech Republic and may have scattered small meteorites on the ground at the impact site about 37 miles west of Berlin. NASA later designated The asteroid as 2024 BX1.
Since the asteroid disintegrated over a relatively populated part of the world, many photos and videos of the fireball were posted online minutes after the event.
While NASA reports on near-Earth objects (NEOs) of all sizes, the agency has been tasked by Congress with detecting and tracking NEOs 140 meters in size and larger that could cause significant damage on the ground if they should impact THE planet. Those objects can be spotted much further in advance than small ones like 2024 BX1.
Tiny asteroids like this one impact the earth from time to time, but they pose no hazard to life on Earth.
NASA's Scout impact assessment system provides useful planetary defense capabilities such as rapid-response trajectory computation and impact alerts so that where and when these asteroids would impact Earth's atmosphere can be calculated.
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