This Tuesday, December 3, 2024, astronomersastronomers of Kitt Peak National Observatory (United States) spotted an asteroid – tentatively named C0WEPC5 – which was about to collide with Earth. This is the fourth impactorimpactor imminent that researchers are reporting this year. And only the twelfth ever identified. The first in 2008.
New asteroid detected hours before collision
Like the other imminent impactors of 2024, theasteroidasteroid C0WEPC5 represented no risk. With a diameter estimated at 70 centimeters, it entered our atmosphereatmosphere at 5:15 p.m. Paris time. Somewhere above Siberia. Still causing an impressive ball of fire to appear in the sky.
The interest for astronomers in detecting this type of object is purely scientific. They can thus hope to recover pieces of it that have fallen to the ground. The detection of larger approaching asteroids could make it possible to deflect them before a catastrophic impact. There NasaNasa and the ESA, theEuropean Space AgencyEuropean Space Agencyboth now have programs dedicated to monitoring asteroids.
