Annual reports from ESA and NASA on asteroid detections

70 cm Asteroid C0WEPC5 Burns Up Over Yakutia, Confirmed by ESA and NASA

Dec 3, 2024, 04:48 PM

An asteroid approximately 70 cm in diameter, known as C0WEPC5, was detected on a collision course with Earth and entered the atmosphere over northern Siberia today. The asteroid created a bright fireball over Yakutia, Russia, at around 16:15 UTC (7:14 p.m. Moscow time), witnessed by residents and captured on video. Discovered roughly 12 hours before impact, this was the fourth 'imminent impactor' detected in 2024. Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA confirmed that the asteroid posed no danger due to its small size and burned up completely upon entering the Earth's atmosphere. Any potential fragments may have landed between Olekminsk and Lensk.