Kelly Kizer Whitt EarthSky Sun, 20 Nov 2022 09:54 UTC
Astronomers spotted an asteroid just hours before it impacted with Earth this morning (November 19, 2022), near Lake Erie. This is not the first time this year astronomers have discovered a rock from space just hours before it hit Earth.
Comment: When it's that small, it's a meteor, not an 'asteroid'.
But this time, it impacted over a populated area, crossing the skies of Toronto, Canada. So we have video and witnesses who said they saw, heard and felt the impact.
This bright bolide is a Southern Taurid spotted over Spain on November 7, at 1:53 local time (equivalent to 0:53 universal time). The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from Comet 2P/Encke that hit the atmosphere at about 110,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the provinces of Avila and Salamanca (Spain). It began at an altitude of about 106 km over Ávila, moved north, and ended at a height of around 62 km over the province of Salamanca.
This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita, Huelva, Sevilla, El Guijo, Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, La Sagra, ESA Casas de Millán, and ESA Cebreros. The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).
We received 60 reports about a fireball seen over Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Škofja Loka, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Corse, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Grand Est, Koper, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Niederösterreich, Piemonte, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Sardegna, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenska Bistrica, Steiermark and To on Saturday, November 5th 2022 around 20:55 UT.
Many people across Northern California on Friday reported seeing a bright light in the sky tumbling down. Several people captured the phenomenon on camera. Video taken from El Dorado County showed a bright ball descending from a dark night sky.
Comment: Investigation into possible meteorite landing on NorCal home: