Small asteroid to create fireball over ocean near Australia today: What to know

A newly discovered small asteroid is reportedly expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere near northwest Australia today.

The Mount Lemmon Observatory has spotted a new asteroid approximately 1 meter across, heading towards Earth. The intercept is expected near the upper atmosphere of northwest Australia; the skies should be dark so people in the area focus on a wider, illuminating light rather than a sharp spark.

In this connection, Richard Moissl wrote on social media: “ Our systems have calculated an atmospheric entry in the timeframe between 16:00-16:30 UTC of a harmless object discovered by Mt Lemmon survey with a diameter of ~0.8 m northwest of Australia over the ocean. The impact will likely cause a bright meteor.”

A small asteroid's imminent impact will occur in the next few hours near northwest Australia. According to recent updates, the meteor should ablate in Earth’s atmosphere and pose no danger.

Nonetheless, while not a hazard, scenarios like this during the project were an invaluable test of our planetary defense capabilities to monitor for larger objects and predict significant impact threats.