Imminent asteroid entry over the Channel on Feb.13, 02h59 UT

A freshly discovered asteroid, Sar2667 is to enter the Earth atmosphere on February 13, ~02h 59min UT over the Channel. Its small dimensions (around 1 m) means it will be the source of a bright fireball, and potential meteorites fall.

A few hours ago, GINOP KHK observatory (K88, Piszkéstető, Hungary) discovered a small (H = 32.7) asteroid, Sar2667, quickly confirmed by Visnjan Observatory (L01, Tican, Croatie) and now recorded by 8 observatories over 36 observations of this fast-moving object (which will be an increasing issue as it approaches our planet). It’s around 1-m diameter, and become the 7th asteroid to be discovered before it entered the Earth atmopshere. The last one, 2022 WJ1, entered the air over Canada on November 19th. According to Peter Birtwhistle and Sam Deen, the asteroid should enter the atmosphere over the Channel with a East_West direction and a 40-50° inclination relative to vertical. Entry area is around 4 km from French coast, 45 km North-East of Le Havre, according to Bill J. Gray. A nice fireball should thus be observable from Northern France, Great-Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

If you witnessed the fireball associated to this asteroid entry and/or if you have a video or a photo of it, please
Submit an Official Fireball Report

If you want to learn more about Fireballs: read our Fireball FAQ.

Sources

• NASA/CNEOS : https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/scout/#/object/Sar2667
• Minor Planet Mailing List

Last updated: February 13, 2023, 00h 12min UT