Asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere

German Small Asteroid 2024 BX1 was discovered just about 3 hours before entering the atmosphere and burning up on January 21.

Asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere — Asteroid crashed into eastern Germany on January 21. Video: X/ *Denis Vida*

Hungarian researcher Krisztián Sárneczky discovered a new asteroid at an observatory in Hungary. At around 1:30 a.m. local time on January 21 (7:30 a.m. Hanoi time), the asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up in the sky over eastern Germany.

This is only the eighth time in history that an asteroid has been detected before it hits Earth, and the third time Sárneczky has done so. He spotted an asteroid that hit north of Iceland in 2022 and another that passed over the English Channel last year.

The January 21 asteroid was about 1 meter wide, according to Denis Vida, a meteorite physicist at Western University in Canada. He is the founder of the Global Asteroid Project, which aims to better observe asteroids using a global network of cameras pointed into space.

Vida shared on social network X one of the clearest footages of the asteroid, captured by a livestream camera in Leipzig, Germany. The asteroid may have created some meteorites that fell to the ground as they passed through the atmosphere and disintegrated. Vida also said the asteroid began disintegrating about 50 kilometers west of Berlin.

The asteroid was originally called Sar2736, but was later officially named 2024 BX1 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center. In addition to Germany and Hungary, the center recorded data on 2024 BX1 from several European countries, including Spain, Croatia, and Romania.

NASA also confirmed the 2024 BX1 visit with a post on social media X about 20 minutes before the asteroid entered the atmosphere. "Warning: A small asteroid will disintegrate into a harmless fireball west of Berlin, near Nennhausen, at approximately 1:32 a.m. Observers will see it if the sky is clear," NASA wrote.

Thu Thao (According to CBS News )

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