Astronomers spotted an asteroid a few hours before it fell to Earth (PICTURES+VIDEO)  

It’s only the sixth we catch

For the sixth time in recorded history, astronomers have managed to spot an asteroid before it hits Earth. On November 19, 2022, four hours before impact, the Catalina Sky Survey discovered asteroid 2022 WJ1 on an Earth-bound collision course. A network of telescopes and scientists was immediately activated and managed to pinpoint with great precision when and where the asteroid will fall.

Fortunately 2022 WJ1 was too small to cause any significant damage, but the news is extremely welcome as it shows that asteroid detection techniques are improving, giving us some time to protect ourselves.

Four images were enough for the astronomers to calculate the asteroid’s orbit. Multiple impact monitoring programs found that the space rock had a 20% chance of falling somewhere in North America. Further observations were able to narrow the range by giving a time and point. As they predicted, the asteroid fell at 08:27 UTC in the Golden Horseshoe region of southern Ontario, Canada.

This is the first prediction of an asteroid falling near a densely populated area, but luckily for us it was the smallest asteroid ever observed before entering the atmosphere, measuring just one meter in diameter. As it entered the atmosphere it disintegrated and some small pieces fell into Lake Ontario.

The detection of 2022 WJ1, and the global coordination to track it, is a testament to how far detection technology has developed, as well as the greatness of human cooperation.

This fireball is particularly significant as the original asteroid was observed with a telescope before it entered the atmosphere. We are thus given a rare opportunity to link the telescopic data of an asteroid with its disintegration behavior in the atmosphere, gaining a glimpse of its internal structure, knowledge important for planetary defense.