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Astronomer Spotted An Asteroid Just Hours Before It Impacted Earth

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For just the fifth time ever, astronomers discovered a new asteroid right before it slammed into Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky first spotted the asteroid cataloged as 2022 EB5 on March 11 using the Schmidt telescope at Hungary’s Piszkéstető Observatory. The observations indicate the space rock was likely about the size of a refrigerator and that it impacted the atmosphere to the north of Iceland just a few hours later.

The other asteroids to impact earth after discovery are 2008 TC3, 2014 AA, 2018 LA and 2019 MO. The fact that all these were discovered in the last fifteen years is reflective of improvements in technology and resources like sky surveys that keep an eye on the near-earth environment.

The impact was picked up by sensors in Norway meant to monitor for nuclear detonations. The resulting air burst is estimated to have a total energy release equivalent to about 2,000 tons of TNT, according to Peter Brown, an astronomer at Western University in Ontario.

Some observers on the north side of Iceland reported seeing a bright flash in the sky around the time the asteroid was expected to impact.

While some remnants of the other recently discovered impactors made it to the surface of the planet and were recovered, all of 2022 EB5 almost certainly burned up or fell into the Arctic Ocean.

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