An asteroid lit up the sky over the English Channel. Photo: Twitter

WATCH: Asteroid hits earth in spectacular fashion

An asteroid lit up the night sky over the English Channel on Monday morning, and the imagery is quite incredible.

by Craig Lewis

14-02-2023 07:37

in Lifestyle

An asteroid lit up the sky over the English Channel. Photo: Twitter

Early on Monday morning, an asteroid that was discovered just hours earlier made its impact with Earth’s atmosphere, with video footage showing a bright flash streaking across the skies over Western Europe.

The asteroid, dubbed Sar2667, is said to have been one metre long, and exploded over the English Channel. It could be seen across southern England and Wales and in parts of northern France.

The asteroid was first detected on the evening of 12 February by astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky in Hungary. He told Space.com that he found the asteroid during a routine near-Earth object hunt.

“It was immediately obvious that it was an NEO, but it wasn’t particularly fast across the sky,” he said, “as it was heading right towards us, and it was faint.”

With the entry of the asteroid having been predicted, many people had their cameras ready to catch the moment it entered earth’s atmosphere.

You can check out footage of the asteroid below:

https://twitter.com/WxNB_/status/1624978164597268480

Got It! How beautiful! #Sar2667 #Asteroid pic.twitter.com/tpLQkJpcCv
— Kade 🧑🏻‍🔬🌌 (@KadeFlowers) February 13, 2023

Quite proud that the first video I recorded with my new #SamsungGalaxyS23 was of the #asteroid impact! @SamsungMobile pic.twitter.com/nmHQNkV7Tp
— Petrolhead999 (@Petrolhead999) February 13, 2023

Just saw it and it was magnificent. Came down vertically on time. 2:59. Green like a bright emerald then bright orange really quickly. Absolutely phenomenal view of the #asteroid #sar2667 tonight over the English Channel facing France (footage my own) pic.twitter.com/WjgsNOaKum
— مُحَمَّد (@aljibaalu) February 13, 2023

Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist and airburst specialist Mark Boslough said that "airbursts of this size happen somewhere several times per year", and this is only the 7th time in history that the #asteroid was discovered in advance.pic.twitter.com/4cx1WLZc6i
— The Weather Channel India (@weatherindia) February 13, 2023

Known as an “airburst,” the event was just the seventh time in history that an asteroid impact has been predicted in advance.

The forecast was described by the European Space Agency as “a sign of the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities.”

Although events of this magnitude occur several times a year, the Sar2667 explosion was “special” because it is the first time that a collision has happened “with enough warning to get data.”