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An asteroid that fall to Earth in 2022 and blow up in a stunning fleeceable fireball above Canada was the smallest outer space rock and roll ever properly valuate , a raw study propose . The diminutive asteroid , which was only discovered a few hours before it blew up , was around the same size as an medium domesticated cat .
In the early hours of Nov. 19 , 2022 , asteroid 2022 WJ1 violently infract apart in the small atm due to acute friction from the tune . This in brief illuminated the sky above Niagara Falls , creating abright flash of light-green light that streak through the sky for around 10 secondsand triggering a flash sonic boom . The explosion happened in southern Ontario but was also seen by some people in the Toronto orbit and far south in states including New York , Ohio , Pennsylvania and Maryland , The New York Timesreported at the time .
The asteroid 2022 WJ1 violently broke apart in the sky above southern Ontario on Nov. 19 2022, creating a 10-second fireball that was viable for hundreds of miles.
Astronomers from the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona first spotted 2022 WJ1 around three hours before it entered Earth ’s aura . The squad correctly predicted where it would end up , enable equipment along the asteroid ’s itinerary — including the 4.3 - beat Lowell Discovery Telescope ( LDT ) , also in Arizona , and a meteor camera internet at Western University in Ontario — to closely monitor the space rock as it passed overhead .
In a new survey , publish Nov. 22 inThe Planetary Science Journal , researchers psychoanalyse observations of the asteroid ’s cleverness , collected by LDT and Western University ’s cameras , and set that the distance rock was somewhere between 16 to 24 inches ( 40 to 60 cm ) wide . This is the smallest corroborate size of it for any asteroid , researchers wrote in astatement .
Smaller distance rocks than 2022 WJ1hit Earth every individual solar day . However , none of them have been properly measured because scientists never see them come until it ’s too tardy .
Data collected by the 4.3-meter Lowell Discovery Telescope helped reveal the size of 2022 WJ1. In this image, the asteroid appears as dashes in a line.
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While scientists are serious atspotting the massive " potentially hazardous " space rockscircling our satellite , it is very rare for astronomers to catch sight ofan asteroid before it enters Earth ’s atmosphere — at the time , this was only the 6th to have ever been spy . Most other space rocks remain completely undetected or finally disclose themselves by trigger off a fireball or come down to the ground , the researchers wrote .
Closely monitor this impactor with both a scope and a professional camera system of rules activate the squad to compare data and make more exact predictions about the shooting star ’s composition and size . This was the first time that astronomers had ever been able-bodied to do this , study co - authorDenis Vida , an expert in meteoroid physics at Western University , enjoin in the statement .
Western University cameras across Ontario helped captured value data on the meteor as it exploded.
Study star authorTeddy Kareta , an uranologist at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona , add up that " this first - ever comparison between telescopic and powerhouse camera information is extremely exciting , and imply we ’ll be able-bodied to characterize the next asteroid to touch the Earth in even practiced point . "
This growing is particularly intriguing because astronomers seem to be have proficient at spotting quad rock and roll as they come on our planet . scientist have now recorded a total of 10 betimes identify impactors , include three in 2024 : an asteroid thatexploded above Berlin in January ; a bolide thatlit up the sky of the Philippines in September ; and a meteor thatburned up off the Californian coast earlier this calendar month .
Researchers can also get wind more about fireballsby collecting the fragments that fall to Earth ’s surfaceas meteorite .
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No sherd of 2022 WJ1 were ever recovered , largely because most were expected to fall into Lake Ontario , according to aNASA report . But that does n’t mean we wo n’t regain them in the future .
" Two years on , any meteorites that fell on land will have blended in with the landscape , " study co - authorPhil McCausland , a terrestrial scientist at Western University , say in the financial statement . " That said , there are people in the area who are explore and make out what to look for . We may still get lucky and find a meteorite or two from this fall in the add up months and long time . "
