Asteroid Smashes into Earth Hours After Discovery in Germany

On Sunday morning, a small asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere, causing a bright spectacle in the sky above eastern Germany. This event quickly gained widespread attention on social media, with videos showing a luminous object descending over Europe, later identified as a disintegrating meteorite.

The asteroid, initially known as Sar2736 but later designated 2024 BX1, reportedly fell near Nennhausen, just outside Berlin, around 1:30 am local time. Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky was credited with the initial discovery of the asteroid a few hours before it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, as reported by The International Astronomical Union.

NASA also acknowledged the asteroid’s imminent entry at least 20 minutes prior to impact. They alerted that a small asteroid would soon break apart harmlessly as a fireball near Nennhausen, west of Berlin. The space agency’s notice suggested that clear skies would allow observers to witness the event.

This incident marked the eighth instance of an asteroid being detected before impacting Earth, and it was the third discovery by Krisztián Sárneczky, a renowned ‘asteroid hunter.’ Sárneczky has previously identified various minor planets and space objects on collision courses with Earth, including asteroids that fell over France in 2023 and the Arctic Ocean in 2022.

Regarding the size of the asteroid, Denis Vida, a PhD associate specializing in meteor physics at Western University in Canada, estimated it to be about 1 meter in length. Vida, who leads the Global Meteor Project aimed at improving global meteor observations, shared a striking video of the asteroid captured by a live camera in Leipzig, Germany, on X. In his comments, Vida hypothesized that the asteroid could have scattered meteorites as it broke apart in Earth’s atmosphere. He later informed CBS News via email that the asteroid started breaking up about 50 kilometers (approximately 30 miles) west of Berlin.

After its initial temporary designation as Sar2736, the asteroid was officially named 2024 BX1 by the International Astronomical Union’s minor planet centre, as reported by EarthSky. The minor planet centre, supported by a grant from NASA’s near-earth object observation program, is vital in gathering comprehensive data on comets and irregular natural satellites of major planets.