Sky events have always been mesmerizing, whether it is a meteor shower or an asteroid coming towards Earth. A similar incident was reported over the weekend where a giant fireball was seen streaking across the sky.
An asteroid was reporting racing towards Earth at 38,000mph across the sky above Botswana, Africa on the weekend. A webcam in a rural area captured the glowing fireball hurtling towards Earth and slowly getting bigger before completely disintegrating with a bright flash.
The asteroid, named 2018 LA, was detected on Saturday that was heading towards a collision with Earth. NASA expected the entry in a vast expanse from Southern Africa and across Indian Ocean to New Guinea, reported The Washington Post.
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The asteroid was spotted few hours before it hit Earth. Because of its small size, 6ft, it posed no threat and it also burned up ‘several miles’ above Earth’s surface creating a bright fireball that lit up the evening sky. However, an automated alert was sent to the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in Washington where they determined that the asteroid was harmless, reported NASA.
This has been the third time when scientists have detected an asteroid with a direct collision with Earth. The first two were reported back in 2008 and 2014. “The discovery of asteroid 2018 LA is only the third time that an asteroid has been discovered to be on an impact trajectory. It is also only the second time that the high probability of an impact was predicted well ahead of the event itself,” said Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.