Newly discovered asteroid burns up over the English Channel

The fireball was seen from France, Great Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands. The celestial body could not do any damage when it entered, it was only a meter in diameter. It burned down a few kilometers northeast of the French port city of Le Havre in Normandy.

Discovered a few hours before the collision
The small asteroid was discovered Sunday evening by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky at the Piszkéstető Observatory. At that time, the celestial body was already closer to the Earth than the Moon. Sarnecsky reported the object to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union. Further observations soon made it clear that the asteroid was about to hit Earth.

Sárneczky named it Sar2667 and calculated where it would enter Earth’s atmosphere. It was the second asteroid discovered by the Hungarian. On Twitter, he gave precise information about the asteroid’s orbit. The last sighting recorded at the Minor Planet Center came from northern Italy – just minutes before the incineration.

Thanks to the find, many interested people were able to watch the spectacle at the right time around 3 am and record it on video. Numerous recordings were shared on social media. The bright meteor also shone over Paris.

observation rare happiness
The burned-up asteroid has since been given the official designation 2023CX1. It was only the seventh time an asteroid had been detected before entering the atmosphere. Such an astronomically small body was last seen over Canada in mid-November.