Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 05:42pm on 25 Oct 2024,Friday Science
On October 22, 2024, a 3-foot-wide asteroid, designated 2024 UQ, struck Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean just hours after its discovery. The impact occurred about 1,000 km off the California coast, creating a bright fireball that was detected by NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at 3:54 am PT. Surveys like ATLAS and Catalina are increasingly able to detect such space rocks before impact, although no sightings were reported from land. This marks the third time in 2024 that an asteroid was discovered mere hours before striking Earth, with no harm caused.
