Officials and scientists have stated that in the early hours of Wednesday, December 4, a small asteroid brightly illuminated the sky in the remote region of Yakutia, Russia, as it hurtled towards Earth. Witnesses reported seeing a fireball as it rapidly descended and eventually disappeared, likely burning up in the atmosphere.
Yakutia is located in the Russian Far East. The European Space Agency announced on social media platform X that an asteroid was on its way! A newly discovered asteroid was on a collision course with Earth. With a diameter of about 70 centimeters (28 inches), its impact on Earth was not expected to be harmful; it might create a beautiful fireball in the skies over northern Siberia.
The space agency further stated, “Thanks to observations by astronomers worldwide, our alert system was able to predict this impact within +/- 10 seconds.”
At 1:15 AM local time on Wednesday (11:15 AM Eastern Time on Tuesday), the asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere over Yakutia in northeastern Siberia. Local residents witnessed a large fireball streaking across the sky.
Videos shared on social media platform X showed a bright and dazzling fireball rapidly descending in the sky before disappearing in the atmosphere. The entire event provided a natural light show for the residents of this remote corner of the Earth.
According to Reuters, the Emergency Situations Ministry of Yakutia mentioned that as the asteroid approached, all official institutions were on high alert, although no damage reports were received.
“Residents in Olekminsk and Lensk regions were able to observe comet-like tails and flashes in the night sky,” stated the Emergency Situations Ministry of Yakutia.
Quoting Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen’s University in Belfast, the magazine New Scientist reported that although the asteroid was small, it was expected to be quite spectacular and visible within a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
It remains unclear whether any debris from the asteroid landed on Earth. Such astronomical events are not uncommon, and with technological advancements, astronomers’ abilities to detect asteroids approaching Earth have been improving.
According to data from NASA, since October 31, 2023, 132 known asteroids have passed closer to Earth than the moon.
NASA’s statistics also reveal that overall, asteroids have passed by Earth over 36,000 times.
As per information from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, another asteroid named 2020 XR will fly past Earth at a distance of 1.37 million miles at 12:27 AM Eastern Time on Wednesday.
Although this significant asteroid is unlikely to have any impact and is not considered a threat by officials, NASA designates any object within 4.6 million miles of Earth as “potentially hazardous”.