Small-sized asteroid 2024 BX1 was discovered only about 3 hours before entering the atmosphere and burning up on January 21.
Hungarian researcher Krisztián Sárneczky discovered a new asteroid from an observatory in Hungary. At about 1:30 a.m. on January 21 local time (7:30 a.m. Hanoi time), this asteroid entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up in the sky over eastern Germany.
This is only the 8th time in history an asteroid has been discovered before hitting Earth and the 3rd time Sárneczky has done this. He discovered an asteroid falling north of Iceland in 2022 and another asteroid passing above the English Channel last year.
The asteroid on January 21 was about 1 meter wide, according to Denis Vida, a PhD in meteorite physics at Western University, Canada. He is the founder of the Global Meteorite Project, which aims to better observe meteorites with a global network of cameras pointing up into space.
Vida shared on social network X one of the clearest footage of the asteroid, recorded by a livestream camera in the city of Leipzig, Germany. The asteroid may have produced some meteorite fragments that fell to the ground during their plunge through the atmosphere and disintegrated. Vida also said that the asteroid began to decay about 50 km west of Berlin.
The asteroid was initially called Sar2736, then was officially named 2024 BX1 by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). In addition to Germany and Hungary, the center records data about 2024 BX1 from many observatories in European countries, including Spain, Croatia and Romania.
NASA also confirmed the visit of 2024 BX1 with a post on social network X about 20 minutes before the asteroid entered the atmosphere. “Warning: A small asteroid will decay into a harmless fireball west of Berlin, near Nennhausen, at about 1:32 a.m. Observers will see it if the sky is clear,” NASA wrote.