1-mtr Asteroid just COLLIDED with Earth today over the English Channel! Triumph for ESA

An asteroid, whose size has been estimated at 1 metre, has hit the Earth today in the early morning.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Feb 13 2023, 19:00 IST

Share Via

Colossal 2400-foot asteroid, 4 other space rocks to buzz Earth soon

image caption — 2/5 Asteroid 2021 EP4 - A small 16 feet wide asteroid will fly past Earth by a very close margin on February 13. The asteroid, named Asteroid 2021 EP4, will make its closest approach with the planet at a distance of 7.2 million kilometers. The asteroid is travelling towards the planet at a blistering speed of 22107 kilometers per hour. (NASA/JPL)

asteroids — 4/5 Asteroid 2005 YY128 - NASA has issued an alert against another asteroid named Asteroid 2005 YY128. It is expected to fly past Earth closely on February 16 at a distance of 4.6 million kilometers. The asteroid is already on its way towards Earth, travelling at a blistering speed of 88735 kilometers per hour. This asteroid is absolutely massive with a width of almost 2400 feet, making it nearly as big as a bridge! (Pixabay)

The early hours of February 13th saw a cosmic visitor hit Earth! Yes, you read that right! It was a small 1-meter-to-2-meter wide asteroid. The asteroid known as Asteroid 2023 CX1 hit Earth's atmosphere and exploded in a blazing flash that made it appear brighter than the Moon. The event occurred in the English Channel. ESA reported this asteroid just before it entered Earth's atmosphere over northern France early this morning. "Only the 7th time an asteroid impact has been predicted - but a sign of the rapid advances in global detection capabilities!" ESA tweeted triumphantly. Asteroid 2023 CX1 was travelling at a mind-boggling speed of 18 kilometers per second.

Surprisingly, Asteroid 2023 CX1 was discovered on February 12, 2023. This near-Earth object belongs to the Aten group and makes one orbit around the Sun in 281 days, thesky.org reported. The aphelion (farthest point from the Sun) of the asteroid 2023 CX1 orbits is 152 million kilometers, and the perihelion (nearest point to the Sun) is 99 million kilometers. Thankfully, this asteroid collision has caused no harm on Earth.

Several people witnessed the event. An individual claiming to have seen the event took to Twitter, describing the asteroid as having "lit up the sky with a pink flash which was spectacular." Another person added, "I just stood at my window and turned on my phone. I wasn't expecting much but it really was amazing."

What's special about this asteroid

According to Mark Boslough, a physicist and airburst specialist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, "airbursts of this magnitude occur somewhere on Earth several times a year," a Weather. com report mentioned. He added that this is only the seventh instance in recorded history where an asteroid was detected before entering the Earth's atmosphere. The previous asteroid that was forecast to enter the Earth's atmosphere was observed in the skies over Ontario, Canada in November of the previous year. Also, this is the first time when a collision happened "over a populated area with enough warning to get data".

Follow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews , also keep up with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

First Published Date: 13 Feb, 18:56 IST