sent this along to Lowell's media folks, so you're all getting it a bit early here: here's the asteroid that broke up over Russia yesterday, #C0WEPC5 / #2024XA1, moving through the field of view at the lowell discovery telescope taken by yours truly yesterday mornin'
I'm still waiting for one of these with more than a few hours of warning! #C0WEPC5
www.boslough.us/blog/death-p...
#C0WEPC5 is now designated #2024XA1: minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K24/K24....
The Minor Planet Center also lists everyone who observed the asteroid before impact.
The catalogue coincidence may be confusing to some readers, so to emphasize:
There is _ no _ relationship between #2024XA1 and #2024XA.
Avistamiento del asteroide #C0WEPC5 en Olekminsk, Rusia: Un espectáculo celestial que iluminó el cielo nocturno y despertó la curiosidad científica.
Astrónomos descubrieron un pequeño asteroide de entre 0.5 y 1.2 metros de diámetro poco antes que impactara contra la Tierra hoy, 3 de diciembre. #asteroide #C0WEPC5 #siberia mysteryplanet.com.ar/site/pequeno...
#C0WEPC5
#asteroidea
(behin behineko izendapena) UTC 16:15etan sartu zen Lurraren atmosferan, suzko bola bat sortuz Yakutian (Siberiako iparraldea, Errusia). Objektua 7 ordu lehenago aurkitu zuten, eta 70 zentimetro inguruko diametroa zuela uste da. Ez du ondoriorik izan.
#Espazioa
As well as the ~1 m asteroid #C0WEPC5 making a bolide today and the ~2 m asteroid #2024XA passing by ~1400 km from the surface 2 days ago; the ~15 m asteroid #2024XH will be passing within 1 lunar distance tomorrow: ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_l...
Update via @esa
"C0WEPC5 entered Earth's atmosphere at 16:15 UTC/17:15 CET, creating a fireball over Yakutia witnessed by people in the region.
The object was discovered roughly 12 hours ago and is thought to have been around 70 cm across
#fireball #russia #C0WEPC5 #spacedefense #astronomy #space
Confirmado!. Con un diámetro de unos 70 cm el recién descubierto #asteroide #C0WEPC5 acaba de entrar al norte de Siberia.
Cámara online en Lensk, Rusia.
The first videos of the #asteroid #C0WEPC5 entry in #Russia are coming out on @telegram. It appears to be very similar to previous asteroid entries (2022 WJ, 2023 CX1, 2024 BX1). Lots of fragments at the end, it probably dropped some rocks in a remote forested area.
#C0WEPC5 has now flashed in the sky.
A satellite flash monitor report will be posted to cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/fireballs/ with some delay.
Eyewitness reports from the ground may be available at fireballs.imo.net/members/imo_....
For infrasound reports, refer to experts like pgbrown2.bsky.social.
#C0WEPC5 is (or was, by the time this post is read) a very small asteroid - somewhere between the size of my computer and the size of the table it sits on.
Objects that size impacting Earth flash harmlessly high in the atmosphere, making bright meteor fireballs and dropping a few small meteorites.
More info to the #MinorPlanet #C0WEPC5 #Impact in #Sibiria at 17:14 in Germany (16:14 UTC)
Here you can watch it live:
Some Webcams, e g from Lensk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs8x...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAH4...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJAb...
Thanx ESA and Starkenburg_Sternwarte!
As new observations of #C0WEPC5 come in, the projected impact time has changed by some minutes and the projected impact location by some tens of kilometers.
Once the infrasound and flash monitors record the flash, all of the observations can be reconciled to give the location of meteorites.
Objects like #C0WEPC5 impact Earth harmlessly on a monthly basis; and fly by on a weekly basis (as #2024XA demonstrated 2 days ago).
If you are wondering why both of these were found:
New moon was on December 1. The skies are dark.
New impactor:
The small asteroid #C0WEPC5 will flash in the sky over eastern Siberia, near longitude 118.6º E and latitude 60.8º N, at 2024 December 3 16:22 UTC (two hours from this writing).
35 observations have been reported so far: cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/obje... , groups.io/g/mpml/topic...
L'astéroïde #C0WEPC5 découvert ce matin viendra se consumer dans l'atmosphère aujourd'hui vers 16h16 (TU) au dessus de la Sibérie. L'objet fait ~1 m donc aucun risque, juste une belle étoile filante. C'est le 4ème impacteur imminent découvert en 2024 et du 11ème au total #imminentimpactor
An asteroid called #C0WEPC5 will impact Earth in a few hours. But don't fret: the 70cm object will safely burn-up. It won't be dangerous, but it will be dramatic. So if you're nearby you'll want to keep your eyes peeled.
www.newscientist.com/article/2458...
