Posted on 01/26/2024 7:54:50 PM PST by Red Badger
The eighth-ever prediction of an asteroid impact has delivered some bounty!
The discoverer with the little meteorite in hand.
Image Credit: Cevin Dettlaff
Earlier this week, for only the eighth time ever, an asteroid that actually came with a rare 95-minute warning exploded in the sky over Germany and the hunt began for any potential pieces of meteorite that survived burning up in the atmosphere and fell to Earth. Now, researchers think they have found them.
Fragments of asteroid 2024 BX1 about the size of a walnut have been recovered by researchers from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and colleagues, and will be now examined to confirm they come from the celestial object. 2024 BX1 was only the eighth-ever object predicted to have a 100 percent chance of colliding with Earth.
The asteroid was first detected about three hours before impact. Krisztián Sárneczky at Piszkéstető Mountain Station of the Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, Hungary spotted it in the sky and reported the finding to the Minor Planet Center. This is the international system containing a database of all the small bodies that move through the Solar System. The data is then shared automatically with other astronomers.
This system is not fool-proof, as we have recently learned with the dangerous asteroid that never existed, but it’s better to have some false positives and catch all the real ones, too. Thanks to Scout, another automated system that tracks the trajectory of newly discovered objects, it became clear that asteroid 2024 BX1 was going to slam into Earth.
The meteorite as it was found on the ground. Image Credit: Cevin Dettlaff
The bright fireball from the object was seen as far away from the Czech Republic. The fragments (if they survived the destruction of their parent body) were expected to fall west of Berlin, in Havelland where these small fragments have been found.
2024 BX1 had an estimated size of about 1 meter (3 feet), which isn't even worth measuring in giraffes, so it did not raise any major alarm bells. Disintegration as it passed through the atmosphere was a certainty. But collecting the potential surviving pieces is very important. If they are caught early enough, then they will remain relatively unexposed to Earth, potentially providing almost pristine samples of asteroids – not as good as what missions like OSIRIS-REx brought back, but this was home-delivered.
Research on meteorites and sample retrieval missions are vital in helping us answer fundamental questions about the formation of the Solar System. Asteroid prediction systems are also vital for Earth's safety, showing that a potentially threatening object that could cause some damage can be detected with time to notify or evacuate the affected population. There are still limitations to our planetary defense systems but in the last few years, there have been incredible strides forward in protecting humanity from possibly dangerous near-Earth Objects.
Ping!........................
Measuring in giraffes? What the heck is that?
Measuring in giraffes? What the heck is that?
Thank you. I learned something new today.
What a find! I’m interested as to the composition, it appears to be a stony meteorite because of of its breakup, but what do I know.
I think it’s fantastic that it was tracked before it burned up in the atmosphere, and they new approximately where to look for some of it. Hopefully more will be found. The finders are looking at a decent pay day, those things command a premium.
Cool.
When I first read it I thought how lots of writers say stuff like “The meteor, twice the size of the Empire State Building...”, and this writer was making a quip that he couldn’t even compare it to a giraffe.
There is a big difference between an asteroid and a meteor, especially in trajectory and angle of entry.
This article sounded like something from The Ted Mack Amateur Hour.
They would make nice hanging earrings.
I recently saw a bus about 2 giraffes long!
I actually heard a meteoroid once. I thought it was just noisy neighbors at the time. In the morning I saw some odd smoke trails in the sky. Again , I thought it odd because I could not think of where they could be launching rockets. Only later did I find out the truth.
“Rare Walnut-Sized Chunks Of Meteorite That Exploded Over Germany Have Been Found”
Pecans actually...
Wait, wut?
my house is 4 giraffes wide × 6 giraffes long × 2 giraffes high and has other critters that aren’t giraffes living in it. maybe we should get a giraffe too.
I heard on as well. It made a popping sound directly straight up overhead........................
Giraffe Radar is a Swedish portable Anti-aircraft Radar used widely in world militaries........
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe_radar
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