While the U.S. was busy celebrating the Super Bowl on Sunday night, Europeans had their own spectacle. Early Monday morning, a bright flash streaked across the skies over western Europe as an asteroid discovered just hours earlier made its impact with Earth’s atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The asteroid, dubbed Sar2667, was first detected on the evening of Feb. 12 by astronomer Kriszti\u00e1n S\u00e1rneczky in Hungary. He told Space.com<\/a> that he found the asteroid during a routine near-Earth object hunt using a 2-foot telescope.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It was immediately obvious that it was an NEO, but it wasn’t particularly fast across the sky,” he said, “as it was heading right towards us, and it was faint.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are four different views of asteroid #SAR2667<\/a> as it enters the atmosphere over Western Europe. #Meteor<\/a>#France<\/a>#UK<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/TwGmOrEw2r<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Nahel Belgherze (@WxNB_) February 13, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n After additional observatories confirmed its existence and trajectory, European Space Agency Operations put out a statement Sunday evening, saying the 1-meter meteoroid was expected to safely strike<\/a> the atmosphere over northern France later in the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just before 3 a.m. UT, a “very bright ending flash of the meteor” was detected, confirming that the small asteroid, now called 2023 CX1, had entered Earth’s atmosphere, the International Meteor Organization<\/a> said. It hit near Rouen, the capital of France’s Normandy region.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Just saw it and it was magnificent,” one person tweeted along with a video of the asteroid falling above the English Channel facing France. “Came down vertically on time. 2:59. Green like a bright emerald then bright orange really quickly. Absolutely phenomenal view…”<\/p>\n Just saw it and it was magnificent. Came down vertically on time. 2:59. Green like a bright emerald then bright orange really quickly. Absolutely phenomenal view of the #asteroid<\/a>#sar2667<\/a> tonight over the English Channel facing France (footage my own) pic.twitter.com\/WjgsNOaKum<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 \u0645\u064f\u062d\u064e\u0645\u064e\u0651\u062f (@aljibaalu) February 13, 2023<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The American Meteor Society has received 40 reports of the fireball from England, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.\u00a0<\/p>\n This marks just the seventh time an asteroid has been detected before it hit the planet. And the most recent event came almost exactly 10 years after a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on Feb. 15, 2013, setting off a shock wave<\/a><\/span> that injured nearly 1,200 people and shattered windows in 3,600 apartment blocks<\/a><\/span>. According to EarthSky, the asteroid was about 20 times bigger<\/a> than the one on Monday, with an estimated size of 65 feet and traveling at a speed of 12 miles a second when it hit the atmosphere.\u00a0<\/p>\n This was the second time that S\u00e1rneczky has found an asteroid before it hit Earth. In March 2022, he found an asteroid, now known as 2022 EB5<\/a>, that was about 10 feet wide just two hours before it collided with Earth a little north of Iceland.\u00a0<\/p>\n “At the time I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” S\u00e1rneczky told Space.com. “I was wrong.”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n U.S. military shoots down unidentified objects<\/a><\/p>\n Michigan Congressman says Americans “deserve far more answers” on shot down objects<\/a><\/p>\n What we know about the 4 objects shot down by the U.S. this month<\/a><\/p>\n\n
\n