An asteroid, around 3-metre wide, hit the Earth’s atmosphere on March 11, just two hours before it was discovered by a Hungarian astronomer. The object, now designated 2022 EB5, impacted the planet north of Iceland. The 2022 EB5 was only the fifth asteroid to be discovered before it struck the planet. The first four were designated 2014 AA, 2018 LA, 2008 TC3 and 2019 MO.
Krisztian Sarneczky, the Hungarian astronomer at the Piszkesteto Mountain Station, which is a part of Konkoly Observatory near Budapest, has discovered the asteroid, which was unlikely to cause any damage even if it had it hit the planet, stated a report by Taarifa.com.
Did anyone hear or see anything?
According to the report cited above, some in Iceland reportedly heard a loud sound and noticed a flash of light. The International Meteor Organization is now looking for witnesses to have a better understanding of what transpired when the asteroid entered the earth’s atmosphere.
According to a report in earthsky.org, the object was likely moving at a pace of about 11 miles per second or 18.5 kilometres per second. The report further said that the flight of the object should have caused all or part of it to vaporise. Reason? Friction with air. Not just that, the object at the time of impact with earth’s atmosphere likely caused a bright meteor, or shooting star often referred to as a fireball.
While some in Iceland have come forward to claim that they saw a bright flash of light and heard a boom, the International Meteor Organization is still looking for definite reports and accounts of a meteor resulting from the impact.
As of now, no meteorite has been discovered.