This asteroid was headed for Earth – and, no, it wasn't a drill

One man's dramatic discovery of a space rock tests NASA's predictions

Apr 11, 20220

NASA • JPL-Caltech via New York Times count

An image showed part of asteroid 2022 EB5's predicted orbit before it entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded on March 11.

Movies that imagine an asteroid or comet catastrophically colliding with Earth always feature a key scene: a solitary astronomer spots the errant space chunk hurtling toward us, prompting panic and a growing feeling of existential dread as the researcher tells the wider world.

On March 11, life began to imitate art. That evening, at the Konkoly Observatory's Piszkésteto Mountain Station near Budapest, Krisztián Sárneczky was looking to the stars. Unsatisfied with discovering 63 near-Earth asteroids throughout his career, he was on a quest to find his 64th - and he succeeded.

At first, the object he spotted appeared normal. "It wasn't unusually fast," Sárneczky said. "It wasn't unusually bright." Half an hour later, he noticed "its movement was faster. That's when I realized it was fast approaching us."

https://www.startribune.com/this-asteroid-was-headed-for-earth-and-no-it-wasn-t-a-drill/600163691/