A small meteor about 1 m ( 3 feet ) in diam burned up over Luzon Island in the Philippines , yesterday night local time . The supernal show was see by many people , filmed , and photographed . That ’s because , for only the ninth time ever , we were ready for it . Asteroid 2024 RW1 was observed before impacting Earth , meaning clip and topographic point of wallop could actually be predicted .
The target was chance upon about 11 hour before the impact by Catalina Sky Survey observer Jacqueline Fazekas . The space stone was not the biggest oneamong the nineasteroids prognosticate before impact , but it was definitely the fastest . It flew through the atmosphere at20.8 kilometers(12 miles ) per secondly , burning brightly as it engross toward the Philippines Sea .
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The 8th - ever object whose impact was predicted fell on Earthearly this yearand was the small yet , about half the size of 2024 RW . Some fragments from it were incur outside Berlin , Germany . It turned out to be a very rare meteorite . The seventh target recorded was check across Western Europe almost a year before .
Over the last X , set about toplanetary protectionhave made significant leaps forrard . data point from telescope observations can be send quickly to algorithms that can omen impact probabilities , like in the nine cases we ’ve had so far . fortunately all these events have been minor , little rocks that created a bright powerhouse and bequeath some meteorites behind . Still , this shows that we should be able-bodied to spot something bigger as long as we are look .
In February 2013 , the infamousChelyabinsk meteorburned up over Russia . The shockwave from the shock caused extensive scathe and 1,613 injuries , luckily none of them fatal . That space rock’n’roll was much larger – more like sign of the zodiac - sized compared to this bowlder – but the power to omen if an area is at risk could in the future save countless living .
One day we may even be able-bodied to break off prominent asteroids before they ever reach here . NASA’sDARTmission showed two year ago that we have the power to change the field of an asteroid , but to do that , we need as much admonition as possible . So constant watchfulness and dedicated observatories stay central . Count this as another win for Earth vs potentially grave space rocks .
