{"id":788362,"date":"2024-09-04T14:55:52","date_gmt":"2024-09-04T19:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=788362"},"modified":"2024-09-04T14:55:52","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T19:55:52","slug":"2024-rw1-a-small-asteroid-hit-earth-and-burned-up-over-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=788362","title":{"rendered":"2024 RW1: A small asteroid hit Earth and burned up over the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The predicted path of asteroid CAQTDL2 over the Philippines<\/p>\n

Catalina Sky Survey\/ESA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

An asteroid hit Earth and burned up in the atmosphere just east of the Philippines. It was discovered by astronomers only hours before it streaked across the sky in a bright fireball, but went unseen by many on the ground as the view was obscured by cloudy weather produced by Typhoon Enteng.<\/p>\n

The asteroid, which is estimated to be roughly 1 metre across, was spotted earlier today by the NASA-funded\u00a0Catalina Sky Survey\u00a0and initially given the designation CAQTDL2, before being named 2024 RW1.<\/p>\n

As predicted, the asteroid struck Earth around 1645 GMT, or 1745 London time, 1245 New York time and 0045 local time just east of the northernmost island of the Philippine archipelago. It was expected to hit at a speed of 17.6 kilometres per second, or 63,360 kilometres per hour, which Alan Fitzsimmons\u00a0at Queen\u2019s University Belfast in the UK says is about average for such objects. \u201cDon\u2019t be fooled by Hollywood movies where you can see the thing coming screaming through the sky and you\u2019ve got time to run out the house, get the cat, jump in the car and drive somewhere. You don\u2019t have the time to do that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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The asteroid CAQTDL2 is visible moving across the sky within the purple circle<\/p>\n

Catalina Sky Survey<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

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Fortunately, there was no need for an evacuation: NASA\u2019s Planetary Defense Coordination Office posted on social media that the asteroid \u201csafely impacted Earth\u2019s atmosphere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn object this small can\u2019t do any damage on the ground. We\u2019re protected from them by the Earth\u2019s atmosphere,\u201d says Fitzsimmons. A video shared on social media shot from the province of Cagayan at the northern tip of the Philippines shows a flickering green fireball appear behind the clouds, followed by an orange tail, which disappeared just seconds later.<\/p>\n

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\u2604\ufe0f?Woah! Newly discovered 1-1.5m asteroid 2024 RW1 (spotted by near-Earth asteroid hunters in the US) burns up above the Philippines just hours after it was first seen.<\/p>\n

This asteroid wasn\u2019t a risk. But if it was, a duck-and-cover warning was possible. pic.twitter.com\/Fht4yqRsBP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Dr Robin George Andrews ?\u2604\ufe0f (@SquigglyVolcano) September 4, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fitzsimmons says that two or three objects this size strike Earth every year and that we are increasingly able to spot them early, with the\u00a0first incoming asteroid being detected by astronomers before landing in 2008. 2024 RW1 is the ninth accurately predicted asteroid strike on Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe really positive aspect about this is that the survey telescopes are now good enough to spot these things coming in and give us a bit of warning,\u201d he says. \u201cPut another way, if this object had been much larger and so perhaps pose a threat to people on the ground, then it would be much brighter, and we\u2019d have projected it much further out. So this actually is a really nice demonstration that the current survey systems are doing a very good job. We\u2019re probably averaging about one small asteroid detected before it hits the atmosphere every year now, and the survey systems are only getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only is Earth developing and improving its early warning system, but in 2022 NASA\u2019s\u00a0Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft proved that we have a chance of saving the planet from a catastrophic impact of a larger object. DART\u00a0crashed into the 160-metre-wide moonlet Dimorphos and slowed it slightly, demonstrating that, in theory, we could avert such a disaster. Next month, the European Space Agency is due to launch its Hera mission to study the results of the impact up close, and further improve our understanding of planetary defence.<\/p>\n

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