TEMPLE, Texas — Some residents of Russia were treated to a special sight on Dec. 3 as an asteroid soared overhead, causing a fireball as it entered Earth's atmosphere, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).
The ESA shared a post on social media that morning that a small asteroid had just been spotted on a "collision course with Earth".
The asteroid, temporarily designated as C0WEPC5, was reportedly around 70cm, or 27.5 inches, across. Because the asteroid was so small, the ESA said its impact was expected to be harmless, but that it did create a fireball over Yakutia, Russia later that day.
C0WEPC5 was reportedly only discovered on the morning of Dec. 3, just hours before its expected impact, but the ESA said that thanks to observations from astronomers from around the world, their alert system was able to predict the impact to within +/- 10 seconds.
Space.com said the asteroid was the fourth "imminent impactor", or asteroid discovered within hours of its expected impact, to be discovered in 2024, and only the 11th confirmed overall.
Several people took to social media to share their videos of the fireball with the tag #C0WEPC5.
