A small asteroid burned up in Earth’s atmosphere off the coast of California just hours after its discovery and before tracking systems recorded its orbit. Last month, an asteroid crashed into Earth’s atmosphere just hours after it was discovered; It somehow managed to evade collision tracking systems as it approached our planet. But on the other hand, the object was only 1 meter in diameter and posed little threat to anything on the Earth’s surface.

The asteroid, designated 2024 UQ, was first detected by the Earth-based Asteroid Latest Warning System (ATLAS) in Hawaii on October 22; This system is a network of four telescopes that scan the sky for moving objects that could be carried through space if they collide. stones, of course, with the Earth. Two hours later, the asteroid burned up over the Pacific Ocean near California, making it a “near impact”.

The short time between detection and impact means impact monitoring systems operated by the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Center did not receive tracking data about the approaching asteroid until it hit Earth, the center said in a November statement. Bulletin 2024.

“The ATLAS probe acquired images that included the detection of a small object on a high-probability collision course. However, due to the object’s location near the edge of two adjacent fields, it was not until several hours later that the candidate was recognized as a moving object.” wrote the ESA in a news release.

“By the time astrometry reaches collision monitoring systems, the collision has already occurred.”

ESA’s NEO Coordination Center (NEOCC) reported that the flares were detected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES weather satellites and the Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA project that uses an array of telescopes to search for asteroids and comets in our celestial neighborhood. These flares were sufficient to confirm the collision with asteroid 2024 UQ and its orbit.

The asteroid was the third impact detected this year, according to ESA. The first of two other asteroids discovered a few hours after hitting Earth in 2024 is known as 2024 BX1. It was about 3.3 feet (1 meter) wide and burned harmlessly in Berlin, Germany, in January. Another, 2024 RW1, exploded over the Philippines on September 4.

Planetary defense efforts to catalog the countless space rocks in our neck of the cosmic forest have become a top priority for space agencies around the world. In addition to ATLAS, Catalina Sky Survey, ESA’s NEOCC and other similar projects, NASA is developing a new infrared telescope, known as NEO Surveyor, to search for potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.

However, it is not just about detection and tracking. Space agencies are testing methods to redirect incoming asteroids if needed. In 2022, NASA’s DART mission crashed into a binary asteroid system with an impactor in an attempt to change its orbit (the attempt was successful). China is also developing its own asteroid deflection mission by 2030.