Surprise 3ft asteroid to strike Earth today in rare early sighting as scientists reveal exactly when and where it’ll hit
A 3-foot asteroid is expected to crash-land on Earth in just a few hours, and scientists say the fiery collision will be historic.
The rocky body will plummet towards Luzon Island in the Philippines at approximately 12:46 pm ET, according to the European Space Agency.
The Catalina Sky Survey detected the object, dubbed CAQTDL2, this morning.
It is expected to enter the atmosphere at roughly 11 miles per second, or just under 40,000 miles per hour.
While CAQTDL2 may seem like a hazard, asteroids of this size and speed are nothing to fear.
CSS says the small body will “harmlessly impact Earth’s atmosphere.”
Asteroids a few feet in diameter strike fairly often but are rarely detected.
Today’s crash-landing is one of just a handful of historic sightings.
“This is just the ninth asteroid that humankind has ever spotted before impact,” ESA posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The agency renamed the asteroid 2024 RW1. Designations follow a specific pattern, with the year of discovery followed by two letters that indicate order.
Objects detected between January 1 and 15 are named in order of their discovery – AA, AB, AC, and so on.
As today’s asteroid is expected to burn up in the atmosphere, it poses no danger to human life.
It may appear as a glowing streak in the sky, giving viewers on Earth a spectacular show.
That is if cloud cover from Typhoon Yagi doesn’t occlude it from sight.
Yagi built into a Category 3 hurricane after touching down in the northern Philippines on Monday as a tropical storm.
It may seem odd for a fireball to coincide with a natural disaster, but Nasa estimates that around 15,000 tons of space dust hit Earth each year.
Asteroids are chunks of rock, ice, and metal that orbit the Sun. They do not have an atmosphere and are a fraction of the size of planets.
The largest swathe of asteroids lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
However, many fall within the orbits of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury.
Small asteroids bombard our planet daily, but the larger the size, the greater the risk.
The most significant fireball event in over a century occurred over Russia in 2013.
A rocky body the size of a small building disintegrated above Chelyabinsk, raining down a shower of debris.
What's the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here's what you need to know, according to Nasa...
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)