Asteroid discovered hours before burning up over UK, France
A last-minute warning by scientists allowed scores of people to witness a sensational fireball in the sky that briefly was brighter than a full moon.
A bright meteoroid illuminated the night sky over northern France and parts of England in the early hours of Feb. 13.
A fireball blazed over the southern United Kingdom and northern France in the pre-dawn hours Monday, flickering brighter than the full moon and putting on a stunning display in the cloud-free sky. However, unlike many fireballs that are seemingly random, plenty of stargazers were outside awaiting its arrival and knew exactly when and where to look to see the asteroid burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
Scientists discovered the 3-foot-wide asteroid just hours before it arrived at Earth's atmosphere and projected that it would streak over the English Channel and northern France around 4 a.m. Central European Standard Time Monday, or 10 p.m. EST Sunday.
This forecast came to fruition with videos and reports of the brilliant fireball flooding social media.
The moment that an asteroid burned up near the English channel early on Feb. 13, 2023. (Twitter/ @KadeFlowers)
This was just the seventh time that an asteroid impact has ever been predicted before it happened, according to the European Space Agency. The agency added that the advanced detection is a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities.
The object, identified as Sar2667, was first detected but the GINOP KHK observatory in Piszkéstető, Hungary, and was later confirmed by the Visnjan Observatory in Tican, Croatie, according to the International Meteor Organization. Eight other observatories collected information about the size, speed and trajectory of the asteroid to help scientists make an accurate forecast of when it would collide with the Earth.
With a diameter of 3 feet, or 1 meter, the rock made the minimum requirement to be classified as an asteroid, according to the American Meteor Society (AMS)
It is possible that small meteorites fell over northern France after the event, but so far, no meteorites have been confirmed. Meteorites are pieces of rock that do not fully disintegrate when entering Earth's atmosphere and make it to the ground.
Most of fireballs are sporadic events in the night sky and can occur anywhere at any time. Stargazers may only see one fireball for every 200 hours of observing the night sky, according to the AMS. Fireballs are incredibly bright meteors or asteroids that appear brighter than any star or planet in the night sky.
Anyone who believes that they have witnessed a fireball can file a report with the AMS to help scientists gather information and determine the origins of the space rock.
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