Small asteroid hits Canada

The fireball created by the fall of the near-Earth asteroid 2022 WJ1’s atmosphere was captured by a webcam pointed at the CN Tower in Toronto (Canada).

For asteroids Close to Earth Big product i flying We need to add smaller bodies to the Earth without serious immediate dangers to the planet, which, being numerous, continue to attack us. On average we collide with objects about a meter in diameter every two weeks, and these asteroids were discovered hours before impact. We already have several listed: 2008TC3 (October 7, 2008) 2014 AA (January 2, 2014) 2018 LA (June 2, 2018), 2019 MO (June 22, 2019) e 2022 EB₅ (March 11, 2022). Now a sixth item must be added to this list: 2022 WJ1.

This is the discovered asteroid David Rankin With G96 telescope (1.5 meter diameter). Mount Lemon Survey (Arizona) appeared on November 19 at 4:53 Ut A faint spot of magnitude +19.1. The angular velocity at the time of discovery was 22.6 arcsec/min, a typical value Close to Earth Close to Earth. In G96 they followed the object until 05:36 Ut, ​​when the magnitude had already increased to +18.6 with an angular velocity of 35.2 arcsec/min. When the luminosity and angular velocity increase significantly in just half an hour, it is reasonable to expect that this is already an asteroid very close to Earth. Once discovered, doubt Close to Earth Added in Neocp With the initials of the minor planet center C8FF042, assigned by G96. Email from Richard Kowalski at 06:20 – Lead research activity specialist of Catalina Sky SurveyLed by G96, and the inventor of the 2008 TC3 – alerted members Minor Planet Mailing List (Mpml) C8FF042 will fall to Earth in a few hours Great Lakes Region And observers should do everything possible to get more astronomical observations of it before the fall. By propagating the forward trajectory in time, the impact date was November 19 at 08:27 at coordinates. lat. 43.11759 N long. 80.33802W: Drop point 50 km above the vertical in Brantford near Toronto (Canada). There is no danger to the population as the object has an estimated diameter of one meter.

In fact it is in this area that the webcam is aimed Canadian National Tower Toronto is immortal Fireball C8FF04 formed by falling into the atmosphere. In the images, the white bolide appears to follow a low-slope trajectory over the horizon and fragments that have separated from the main body are visible. Where did this asteroid come from? The heliocentric orbit it traveled was at low inclination over the ecliptic with perihelion inside Earth’s orbit, while aphelion reached 2.9 AU: the middle of the main asteroid belt. The geocentric velocity of the asteroid is 9.9 km/s, so one can estimate The velocity of entering the atmosphere is about 15 km/s: Not very high at all, and it is possible that some fragments have reached the floor. Actually the The meteor hunt has already begun: The A vast field Located in the city of Grimsby, 63km northeast of Brantford, overlooking Lake Ontario on the opposite shore from Toronto. According to NASA’s first estimates, large fragments may have ended up in the lake, while only small ones may have fallen to land. At the end of the story, the electronic circular arrived on the afternoon of November 19 2022-W69 Early writings from the Minor Planet Center assigned 2022 WJ1 to C8FF04, which officially Sixth asteroid to hit Earth within hours of discovery.