Residents of the town of Olekminsk posted videos on social media showing a comet-like object lighting up the night sky as it passed over Russia’s Siberian republic of Yakutia. The user-generated videos were authenticated by the Associated Press.
Officials in Yakutia were placed on alert as the asteroid approached, but they confirmed no damage was reported following its descent.
The European Space Agency (ESA) said the asteroid was believed to have a diameter of 70 centimetres and was discovered roughly 12 hours prior to its appearance.
They added that “thanks to observations from astronomers around the world, our alert system was able to predict this impact to within +/- 10 seconds.”
What are asteroids?
Asteroids are space rocks that range in size and are remnants from the formation of the Solar System roughly 4.6 billion years ago. They usually orbit the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Impacts from large asteroids are rare, and small and medium-sized asteroids are far more common. The European Space Agency say that regardless of their size, the rocks can still do serious damage.
Asteroids, or other natural objects, whose orbit brings it close to Earth are referred to as ‘near-Earth Objects’ (NEO). The ESA’s Planetary Defence Office is an element of the Agency’s Space Safety Programme, which observes, predicts, and if necessary, warns of potentially dangerous NEO’s.
