Asteroid explodes above English Channel after entering Earth´s atmosphere

The event was captured by an amateur astrophotographer who Tweeted updates as an asteroid exploded over the English Channel  

A rare sighting of a small asteroid entering the Earth´s atmosphere was witnessed by thousands in south England, Wales, and northern France, just before it exploded over the English Channel.  

This happened after an asteroid called Sar2667 entered Earth and created a shooting star that exploded in the air, called by scientists as an airburst.  

The spectacular event was captured by several people on camera, who stayed up the night to be able to witness it.  

Before the asteroid entered Earth’s atmosphere, amateur Astrophotographer Tom Williams took to Twitter and posted “A small asteroid is expected to safely impact the French-English channel in ~4 hours time, 03:00:03 UT tomorrow. Object size is around ~1 meter and should appear as bright as the Moon momentarily as it enters the atmosphere. Approx visibility circle posted below”.  

🚨ATTENTION! A small asteroid is expected to safely impact the French-English channel in ~4 hours time, 03:00:03 UT tomorrow. Object size is around ~1 meter and should appear as bright as the Moon momentarily as it enters the atmosphere. Approx visibility circle posted below. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Ckh5OBsz4l

— Tom Williams (@tw__astro) February 12, 2023

As the astroid was reaching closer to Earth, Williams updated “New info. Velocity is around 14.2km/s. Duration of atmospheric entry should be on the order of 10-15 seconds”.  

New info. Velocity is around 14.2km/s. Duration of atmospheric entry should be on the order of 10-15 seconds. 4/ #Sar2667 #Asteroid

— Tom Williams (@tw__astro) February 12, 2023

And finally once the astroid entered the earth´s atmosphoere, he posted “Bang! That’s not the sun”.  

Bang! That’s not the sun. #asteroid pic.twitter.com/12HDs0oc1h

— Tom Williams (@tw__astro) February 13, 2023

Several people who had been following the developments thanked him for the constant updates, as @aes_2fish Tweeted “Thank you so much for your thread. unforgettable moment lit up the sky and disintegrated in a bright shade of green before dipping under the treeline i could see it breaking up as it dove. Pic taken from ~200km away”.  

@aes_2fish then posted a photo of the astroid and wrote “From the birth of our solar system, up until its eventual, flashy disintegration in our atmosphere, #Sar2667 has been with us, quietly. What luck to have witnessed this and been able to capture it”. 

From the birth of our solar system, up until its eventual, flashy disintegration in our atmosphere, #Sar2667 has been with us, quietly. What luck to have witnessed this and been able to capture it 🙂 pic.twitter.com/UCOFDGGnYs

— ⍼ (@aes_2fish) February 13, 2023

A video by @kadeflowers shows how the astroid bursts in the sky as she tweets, “Got It! How beautiful”.

Got It! How beautiful! #Sar2667 #Asteroid pic.twitter.com/tpLQkJpcCv

— Kade 🧑🏻‍🔬🌌 (@KadeFlowers) February 13, 2023

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