Astronomers found the asteroid - now labeled ZLAF9B2 - Saturday morning, hours before closest approach. Trajectory models, observer reports and a video all suggest it struck Earth's atmosphere over South Africa on Saturday.
© Richard Kowalski
Asteroid ZLAF9B2
A small asteroid discovered on Saturday morning, June 2, 2018, surprised astronomers when its trajectory
suggested it would pass very, very close to Earth just hours after being detected. The object has been given the temporary designation of ZLAF9B2. There are reports of sightings of a bright meteor, as well as a video that may be related to the event, from
Barend Swanepoel in South Africa. He reports the video (see below) as being:
... taken near my dad's farm between Ottosdal and Hartbeesfontein.
Another witness in South Africa
described the meteor as very bright, and showing a yellow color.
This space rock had an estimated size of only 10-16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in diameter. If it struck (and sometimes they do, and meteorite pieces are found), it was too small to cause serious damages. In contrast, the impressive meteor seen over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February, 2013 was an estimated 60 feet wide (20 meters). It broke windows in six Russian cities and caused more than 1,500 people to seek medical attention, mostly due to injuries from flying glass. The June 2 asteroid wasn't big enough to do anything like that, but it was big enough to produce a spectacular, very bright meteor.
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