The fall of an asteroid in Europe: it became known where the space rock actually landed (photo)
Previous data indicated that all the fragments of the asteroid fell into the English Channel, but it turned out that this was not entirely true.
At the beginning of this week, namely on Monday, February 13, a bright “ball of fire” lit up the sky over Europe, which left an equally amazing trace in the atmosphere. Residents of several European countries witnessed the fall of a small asteroid to Earth, which almost completely burned up in the atmosphere and fell apart as a result of the explosion. Initially, it was reported that all of its wreckage fell into the English Channel, which separates France and Great Britain. But a group of volunteers found one of the fragments of the space rock on land, writes Space.
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As Focus already wrote , in the early morning, February 13, an asteroid about 1 meter wide crashed into the Earth’s atmosphere , which was discovered just 7 hours before. This space rock was named 2023 CX1, although it was given the alternative name Sar 2667. It was discovered by Hungarian astronomer Christian Sarnecki on the evening of February 12, when the asteroid was flying at high speed towards our planet. Sarnecki made observations of near-Earth objects and found that one of them, which was very small and reflected little light, was flying towards our planet.
By the way, this is the second time this scientist has discovered an asteroid just a few hours before it hit Earth. As Focus already wrote , in March last year, Sarnecki saw a 3-meter-wide asteroid 2022 EB5 in space just 2 hours before it entered the atmosphere of our planet and burned up there, breaking into pieces.
According to scientists, during the fall of the asteroid 2023 CX1, which looked like a fireball in the sky, many residents of the UK, France and some other countries watched its flight. Officially, about 70 appeals from local residents were recorded, who reported a strange object in the sky over Europe.
Initially, scientists reported that the asteroid broke into pieces while still in the air, and its fragments fell into the waters of the English Channel, but one of its fragments was still found on land. Part of this small asteroid was found by volunteers who collaborate with many scientific institutions in France. Actually, the fragment was discovered on the territory of this country north of the city of Rouen.
The find was reported by 18-year-old student Lois Leblanc, who, along with her group, was looking for a possible impact site for the debris of asteroid 2023 CX1. According to her, during the search, she drew attention to a dark stone that stuck out of the Earth. Now, volunteers, along with local residents, are planning to more thoroughly explore the area in order to find other parts of the asteroid that exploded in the air.
