Seventh Shooting Star Ever Spotted Before Impact For the seventh time, a small asteroid – a meteoroid as astronomers call it – was discovered in space as it raced towards Earth for impact. The predicted time and location of the impact (02:50 - 03:03 UTC, above northern France) were made possible wi
About 40 minutes later, follow-up observations reported by the Višnjan Observatory in Croatia confirmed the object. At this point, various impact assessment systems around the globe calculated a 100% impact probability, expected above the English Channel between 02:00 – 04:00 UTC. The asteroid was estimated to be around one meter in diameter and posed no threat to people or property.
Over the next seven hours, astronomers around the globe observed the Earth-bound object and pinpointed its ‘impact corridor’ over the Channel with a trajectory going from west to east. The object continued to be observed until just ten minutes before impact, only five minutes before it fell into Earth’s shadow becoming ‘invisible’.
First impact corridor reported by ESA’s tool Meerkat as reported at 21:33 UTC, with the actual impact time at 02:59 UTC in the middle of the uncertainty window. Credit: ESA / PDO
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