Jakarta –
A dramatic fireball lit up the skies of Europe just hours after it was discovered in outer space.
Krisztián Sárneczky spotted the small asteroid at the Konkoly Observatory Piszkéstető Station, located about 100 kilometers northeast of Budapest, with a 0.6 meter telescope. The information was passed to the European Space Agency hours before it plunged into the atmosphere around 10pm EST February 12 (0300 GMT February 13).
“I found it during a routine hunt for NEO (near Earth objects)” Sárneczky was quoted as saying Space.com, Tuesday (14/2/2023).
“It was immediately clear that it was a NEO, but not very fast across the sky, as it was heading towards us, and faint,” added Sárneczky.
This is not the first time Sárneczky has issued a warning of an impending dramatic fireball event. As a professional asteroid hunter, he did the same in March 2022.
“At that time I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event. Turns out I was wrong,” he said.
Coincidentally, the fireball fell almost exactly 10 years after a six-story space rock suddenly exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia on February 15, 2013. The explosion then caused minor injuries and damage.
Space agencies around the world reiterated their commitment to tracking such objects by then. NASA even opened a Planetary Defense Coordination Office after the event.
However, most fireballs were completely harmless, and it was rare for any shards to make it to the ground. NASA, the European Space Agency ESA and many other entities keep a 24/7 watch in the sky for any asteroid approaching Earth orbit.
So far, no celestial bodies that critically threaten our planet have been found in the decades-long search. But still, humans must be on guard.
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(rns/fay)
