A speedy descent of a small asteroid lit up the sky in Russia's remote far eastern region of Yakutia early on Wednesday, as it burned out after entering the Earth's atmosphere. It was the first of two expected asteroid fly-bys this week and provided a natural light show for residents of northern Siberia.
The flying space rock was around 70 centimetres (27.5 inches) in diameter and was spotted about 12 hours in advance of its appearance in the sky, the European Space Agency said earlier Tuesday. Calling the asteroid 'harmless', the space agency said it created a "nice fireball" over Yakutia's area in northern Siberia.
Asteroid C0WEPC5 (temporary designation) entered the atmosphere at 1.15 a.m. local time (1615 GMT), the space agency said.
"Thanks to observations from astronomers around the world, our alert system was able to predict this impact to within +/- 10 seconds," the agency said.
Residents of the eastern Russian republic of Yakutia shared their sightings of lightballs on social media. Videos showed the celestial rock on fire, appearing like a ball of fire, as it entered the atmosphere.
The emergencies ministry in Yakutia said all official bodies were placed on alert as the asteroid approached but that no damage had been reported after its descent.
"Residents of Olekminsk and Lensk districts were able to observe in the night a tail similar to a comet and a flash," it said.
"A small one, but (asteroid) it will still be quite spectacular, visible for hundreds of kilometres," astronomer Alan Fitzsimmons of Queen's University in Belfast, told New Scientist magazine before the fireball appeared.
Nasa credited the University of Arizona's Bok telescope for the discovery of the asteroid. "At 11.14 am EST, a very small asteroid will impact the Earth's atmosphere and create a harmless fireball over eastern Russia's Olyokminsky district," the American space agency said on Tuesday.
