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A “harmless” fireball from a disintegrating meteorite lit up the night sky in Germany early Sunday morning before crashing into Earth.
The 2024 BX1 asteroid, which was temporarily designated as Sar2736, landed outside Berlin near Nennhausen around 1:30 a.m., astronomers and observers said.
It was discovered by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky just several hours before its impact, according to The International Astronomical Union.
NASA confirmed the incident on X about 20 minutes before impact.
“Heads Up: A tiny asteroid will disintegrate as a harmless fireball west of Berlin near Nennhausen shortly at 1:32am CET. Overseers will see it if it’s clear!,” the space agency wrote.
Indeed, onlookers were able to see the space rock falling from the sky and took to social media to post stunning footage from multiple vantage points.
The incident marked only the eighth time an asteroid was discovered before hitting Earth, and the third time that Sárneczky made the finding.
The professional asteroid hunter also discovered an space rock that stuck north of Iceland in 2022 and one that exploded over the English Channel during last year’s Super Bowl.
NASA does have a team monitoring large asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.
The next possible dangerous collision could happen in 2182, when there is a 1 in 2,700 chance that a small near-Earth asteroid named Bennu could penetrate the atmosphere.
The space agency in 2022 successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid at 15,000 miles per hour in a doomsday scenario test run to prepare for deflecting one that was hurling towards the planet.
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Dr. Sarah Adams is a scientist and science communicator who makes complex topics accessible to all. Her articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
