Scientists Discovered A Near-Earth Asteroid Hours Before It Exploded Over Berlin
In the predawn hours of Sunday, January 21, a tiny asteroid streaked across the sky and crashed into Earth’s atmosphere near Berlin, creating a bright but harmless fireball visible for miles around. Such sightings typically happen several times a year, but this one was unique because it was first spotted by scientists about three hours before the impact—only the eighth time researchers have spotted one of these space rocks before it collided.
The asteroid, which was given the name 2024 BXI, was discovered by astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky, working at the Piskestetö observation station at the Konkoya Observatory in Budapest (Hungary). He discovered the object using the 60-centimeter Schmidt telescope about three hours before it entered the atmosphere. Shortly thereafter, NASA provided a detailed forecast of where and when the object would fall. “West of Berlin near Nehnhausen at 1:32 Central European Time a small asteroid will disintegrate into a harmless fireball. Observers will see it if it is clear! ”, the American agency reported on the social network X.
Sarnetsky has discovered hundreds of asteroids in recent years and was the first to detect asteroid 2022 EB5 about two hours before it crashed into Earth’s atmosphere. He used data from the Konkoli Observatory to detect this flying stone.
The observation he made is unique. According to the European Space Agency, 99% of near-Earth asteroids smaller than 30 meters (98 feet) across have not yet been detected in advance. The smaller the asteroid, the closer it must be to Earth before scientists can detect it, which could make it difficult to predict the impact in advance, experts say.
