A Hungarian astronomer discovered a small asteroid about three meters wide two hours before it hit the Earth’s surface.
The dubbed 2022 EB5 is the 5th asteroid discovered before its impact with Earth.
On March 11, 2022, at 21:22 UTC, Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky at the Piszkésteto station of the Konkoly observatory detected a small asteroid about three meters wide. The discovery was made just two hours before it entered Earth's atmosphere north of Iceland and reached Earth via the Arctic Ocean.
The so-called 2022 EB5, the 5th asteroid discovered before its impact on Earth, was so small that it disintegrated upon entering the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 18.5 km/s.
Impact! When 2022 EB5 hit Earth north of Iceland this morning, it became the 5th asteroid to be discovered before impacting Earth. pic.twitter.com/kYsQ40uuFq
-Tony Dunn (@tony873004) March 12, 2022
The International Meteor Organization is seeking reports from anyone who has seen the bright light the asteroid would have created as it burned. To this end, the organization provided a linkin order to guarantee the sharing of testimonies.
Some people in Iceland report seeing a flash of light or hearing a bang.
A few hours ago, newly discovered #asteroid 2022 EB5 collided with Earth near Iceland at a speed of 18.5 km/s. This asteroid was too small to cause damage.https://t.co/Z54nkNUL9D pic.twitter.com/EHzDsAnqkK
-Tony Dunn (@tony873004) March 12, 2022
Although a seemingly innocuous small asteroid, many are potentially dangerous and pass close to Earth. As we have seen here, estimates show that "the current military arsenal of nations is unable to avoid a collision with a large asteroid". For now, the option given by the experts is to “gently push away” the asteroids from their trajectory towards our planet.
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