In the early hours of Sunday (Jan. 21), a small asteroid streaked through the sky and entered Earth’s atmosphere near Berlin, creating a luminous yet harmless fireball visible over a wide area.
While such occurrences are common a few times each year, this event stood out as scientists detected the asteroid approximately three hours before it made impact—a rare feat that has only happened seven times prior.
The asteroid, named 2024 BXI, was initially spotted by Krisztián Sárneczky, a self-proclaimed asteroid hunter and astronomer at the Piszkéstető Mountain Station, part of the Konkoly Observatory in Hungary.
Sárneczky utilized the observatory’s 60-cm Schmidt telescope to identify the celestial object, Live Science reported.
Following its discovery, NASA provided a detailed forecast pinpointing the location and time of the meteor’s descent.
Written by B.C. Begley
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B.C. Begley 