For the 7th time, a small, safe asteroid was discovered in space as it raced towards Earth for impact.
Detected by @sarneczky ~7 hours before impact, the time/place of impact were determined and countless enjoyed the spectacular view.
👉☄️https://t.co/LpGvU2p8Z0 pic.twitter.com/4BeaXjvZvH
— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) February 13, 2023
The small asteroid named Sar2667 was only about 3 feet in diameter. But the airburst of light was hundreds of feet wide. And was shared across social media worldwide.
The massive burst of light in the sky was visible across most of southern England and Wales. It was also seen as far South as Paris, France.
🚨ATTENTION! A small asteroid is expected to safely impact the French-English channel in ~4 hours time, 03:00:03 UT tomorrow. Object size is around ~1 meter and should appear as bright as the Moon momentarily as it enters the atmosphere. Approx visibility circle posted below. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Ckh5OBsz4l
— Tom Williams (@tw__astro) February 12, 2023
American Physicist Mark Boslough is a world-renowned expert in the airburst phenomenon.
Boslough reported from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. that “airbursts of this size happen somewhere several times per year” but that they are “rarely discovered in advance.” And he also said this is believed to be the first time in history the phenomenon occurred “over a populated area with enough warning to get data”.
