Photos show a small, “harmless” asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere over the Philippines on Wednesday afternoon, generating a fireball that lit up the sky.
The asteroid passed over the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago at 17.6 kilometers per second, or 63,360 kilometers per hour, before burning up just before 1 p.m. New Scientist reported.
The European Space Agency Wednesday morning forecast The roughly three-foot-diameter asteroid, named 2024 RW1, is predicted to break up near Luzon at 12:39 p.m. ET (4:39 p.m. UTC).
This is only the ninth asteroid discovered before it impacts, ESA said in its X post.
“The object is harmless, but people in the area may witness a spectacular fireball,” the ESA said.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Also noted It predicted that the asteroid would “have a harmless impact on the Earth's atmosphere” and “create a fireball off the east coast of the northern Philippines.”
Shocking video footage shared on X showed the asteroid burning up over the Philippines.
Funded by Jacqueline Fazekas and NASA Catalina Sky SurveyA NASA-funded observatory located near Tucson, Arizona, designed to track near-Earth objects. Found It is a space rock and has been named CAQTDL2.
Images of the asteroid were captured, but viewing conditions were expected to be less than ideal due to cloud cover from Typhoon Yahi, which has battered the northern Philippines in recent days as a tropical storm and is currently a Category 3 hurricane, located about 250 miles west of the island of Luzon. CNN reported:.
According to the Virtual Telescope Project, within a few weeks, skywatchers will be able to watch asteroid 2024 ON approach Earth at an astronomical but still safe distance.
The asteroid, which will be at least 720 feet wide, or the length of two football fields, will be visible from the Northern Hemisphere.
Asteroids are rocky remnants left behind after the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. NASA.
