The Catalina Sky Survey—supported by Steward Observatory’s Mountain Operations—detects the ninth asteroid ever to be spotted prior to impact
The asteroid, known as 2024 RW1, was discovered today by research technologist Jacqueline Fazekas with the Catalina Sky Survey. It burned up in a bright green fireball visible above the Philippines.
A small asteroid on a collision course with Earth today burned up harmlessly in Earth's atmosphere.
The European Space Agency (ESA) says a 3-foot (1-meter) asteroid struck the atmosphere and burned up harmlessly on Wednesday (Sept. 4) around 12:46 p.m. ET (1646 GMT) above the western Pacific Ocean near Luzon Island in the Philippines.
The asteroid, known as 2024 RW1, was discovered today by research technologist Jacqueline Fazekas with the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded observatory near Tucson, Arizona—and supported by Steward Observatory’s Mountain Operations—dedicated to tracking and cataloging near-Earth objects. It was only the ninth asteroid that has been spotted prior to impact, ESA wrote in a post on X .
NASA's Asteroid Watch website predicted that the impact could create a fireball visible from the east coast of the Philippines, and many videos posted to social media showed a bright green fireball above the island nation.
NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office said the impact was detected by multiple sensors.
