An asteroid lights up the sky over the Russian republic of Yakutia, Siberia

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Residents of the city of Olekminsk posted videos on social media showing a comet lighting up the night sky as it passed over the Siberian republic of Yakutia. These videos have been authenticated by the Associated Press.

The Yakutia authorities were placed in state of alert as the asteroid approached, but they confirmed that no damage had been reported.

The European Space Agency (ESA) says the asteroid had a diameter of almost 70 centimeters and was discovered about 12 hours before its appearance.

“Thanks to observations from astronomers around the world, our warning system was able to predict this impact to within +/- 10 seconds”adds the ESA.

What is an asteroid?

Asteroids are space rocks of varying size, remnants of the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. They generally orbit the Sun in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter.

Impacts of large asteroids on Earth are rare, while small and medium ones are much more common. The European Space Agency says that, No matter their size, asteroids can still cause serious damage.

Asteroids are called “near-Earth objects” (NEO) when their orbit brings them close to Earth. THE Planetary Defense Office ESA is a part of the Agency’s space security programme, which observes, predicts and, if necessary, warns of the presence of potentially dangerous near-Earth objects.