NASA
NASA TV
Search
Asteroids
Mar 15,2022
NASA Svstem Predicts Impact of Small
in
p
Asteroid
Oct
EL
Asteroid 2022 EBS's predicted orbit around the Sun
UUO,0o0
Share
2022 EBS
1
Venus
Earth Mars
Warqury
8
Sun
Watch on
IYoulube
This animaton shows asteroid 2022 EBS s predicted orbit around the Sun before impacting into the Earh 5 atmosphere
March
2022
asieroig
estimaiz0
be about
feet (2 meters) wide
was discovered only two hours before impact
Credits: NASAIJPL-Caltech
Asteroid 2022 EBS was too small to
hazard to Earth; but its discovery marks the fifth time that _
asteroid has
been observed before impacting into the atmosphere.
A small asteroid hit Earth's atmosphere over the Norwegian Sea before disintegrating on March 11
2022
But this
event wasn't
complete surprise
Astronomers knew it was on
collision course
predicting exactly where and when
the impact would happen:
Two hours before the asteroid made impact;
K. Sarneczky at the Piszkesteto Observatory in northern Hungary first
reported observations of the small object to the Minor Planet Center
the internationally recognized clearinghouse for
the position measurements of small celestia
bodies. The object was posted on the Minor Planet Center'=
Near-Earth
Object Confirmation Page to flag it for additional observations that would confirm it as
previously unknown asteroid
NASA's
Scout" impact hazard assessment system then took these early measurements tO calculate the trajectory of
2022 EBS. As soon as Scout determined that 2022 EBS was going to hit Earth's atmosphere, the system alerted the
Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) and NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office , and flagged the
object on the Scout webpage to notify the near-Earth object observing community: Maintained by CNEOS at NASAs
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California
cout automatically searches the Minor Planet Center's database for
pose
any