On November 19, astronomers discovered a meteoroid with a diameter of about 1 m, which was approaching the Earth. Just three hours after that, it collided with our planet and fell into Lake Ontario without causing any serious consequences.
Meteoroid was discovered 3 hours before the collision
On November 19, an astronomer from the Arizona Observatory discovered a celestial body moving towards the Earth. The object, designated C8FF042, was about one meter in diameter and was moving from the main asteroid belt.
Just three hours after it was discovered, C8FF042 entered the Earth’s atmosphere over Canada. Its fall on the last part of the flight was monitored by NASA. According to the experts of this organization at an altitude of about 850 m, this meteorite broke up into separate fragments that fell into Lake Ontario.
There are no tangible traces left from the fall of this small object. Although the locals recorded a rather striking video of its fall. Perhaps the search for its wreckage will begin soon.
Space rock and danger to people
Space rocks, from time to time approaching our planet, cause a rather strange attitude on the part of the population. On the one hand, everyone is afraid that some asteroid will crash into us and human civilization will come to an end from this.
At the same time, “asteroids” are usually understood as celestial bodies which size is measured in kilometers. But the orbits of the absolute majority of them are known for many years forward and the probability that such a body will crash into our planet in the next few centuries is insignificant.
But bodies which diameter is measured in tens of meters approach our planet at a dangerous distance every year. And most of them we will learn in a matter of hours and days before it happens.
Meteoroids
Bodies less than 30 meters are called meteoroids. Until recently, there was no way to track them at all. Therefore, C8FF042 is only the sixth object that was discovered before it crashed into the Earth.
By the way, the previous case occurred in March of this year. Then the two-meter meteoroid was discovered only two hours before it entered the atmosphere over the North Atlantic Ocean. And these facts do not at all indicate an increase in meteoric activity. It’s just that we finally got the opportunity to see these space rocks even before they enter the atmosphere.
The absolute majority of them do not pose any threat to people, however, with an increase in the radius, the danger of collision with them increases exponentially. As the experience of Chelyabinsk has shown, already a 20-meter stone is able to knock out windows and knock down trees in the whole city.
Therefore, an increase in observations of small space rocks is very good. This increases the chance to see a sufficiently large one at least a few days before the collision, calculate the point of fall, and evacuate the city that it may threaten.
According to www.space.com
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