Cristian Sarnecki detected the small asteroid at Konkoly Observatory’s Piszkéstető Station, about 100 kilometers northeast of Budapest, using a 0.6-metre telescope. The information was reported to the European Space Agency hours before it fell into the atmosphere at around 22:00 ET on February 12 (03:00 GMT on February 13).

“I discovered this little body during a routine NEO search. [об’єктів, що знаходяться поблизу Землі ]Sarnetsky said in an email to Space.com senior author Teresa Pultarova. “It was immediately obvious it was a NEO, but it wasn’t very fast and weak in the sky as it was coming directly towards us,” Sarnetsky added.

This isn’t the first time Sarnetsky has brought attention to a dramatic fireball incident, as the professional asteroid hunter did the same in March 2022. “At the time, I thought it was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said. “I was wrong.” Screenshot of a video of a fireball falling over France on February 13, 2023. Credits: Thomas Petit @MegaLuigi – Rouen, France

Coincidentally, the fireball fell almost exactly 10 years after a six-story space rock unexpectedly exploded over Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013, causing minor injuries and damage. Space agencies around the world reaffirmed their commitment to tracking such objects at the time, and then NASA opened the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

However, most fireballs are completely harmless and it is rare for any piece to fall to the ground. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and many other organizations monitor the sky around the clock for asteroids approaching Earth’s orbit. Over a decade of searches haven’t found anything that seriously threatens our planet, but surveillance continues just in case.

The discovery of a 3.2-foot (one-meter) meteorite, designated SAR 2667, was only the seventh time astronomers have been able to do so, according to ESA. “This is a sign of rapid progress in global detection capabilities,” the agency wrote on Twitter.

According to the American Meteor Society, there were 40 reports (opens in a new tab) in Great Britain and continental Europe this morning (around 03:00 GMT) local time. Messages came from places such as England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.