Small, harmless asteroid burns up in Earth’s atmosphere over the Philippines

An asteroid lights up the night sky as it burns up in the atmosphere, as seen from Ballesteros, Philippines, September 5, 2024, in this still image obtained from social media video
| Photo Credit: Via Reuters

A small asteroid discovered on Wednesday (September 4, 2024) harmlessly burned up in Earth’s atmosphere the same day, NASA said.

The asteroid — about 3 feet (1 meter) across — was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and broke apart over the coast of the Philippines hours after the discovery.

This space rock, dubbed 2024 RW1, is only the ninth to have been spotted before its impact. Asteroids around this size hurtle toward Earth about every two weeks without posing any danger.

The asteroid was discovered through the Catalina Sky Survey, which is run by the University of Arizona and funded by NASA.