Asteroid hits Earth's atmosphere and burns up over the Philippines

An asteroid strike briefly lit up the sky over the northern Philippines on ThursdayThe bright fireball, which changed color as it fell, was captured on video by observers in the northern Philippine province of Cagayan, about 300 kilometers north of Manila.

ScienceKonek, a Facebook page that promotes science among young people, shared videos taken by residents of various localities in Cagayan.

One of the videos showed the asteroid “burning in a greenish fireball” over the city of Lal-lo, ScienceKonek said in a blog post.

“According to the reports we have received on the ground, The short-lived glow in the sky was observed as far south as Metro Manila and the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon, but the best images of the fireball were obtained mainly in the Cagayan Valley,” he added.

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the asteroid, named 2024 RW1, was harmless.

The image was partially obscured by thick clouds in the northern Philippines, which had recently suffered from the effects of Typhoon Yagi.

Asteroid detected before it hits Earth

Asteroid 2024 RW1 was discovered by Jacqueline Fazekas of the Catalina Sky Surveya NASA-funded observatory near Tucson, Arizona. This is only the ninth time we’ve detected an asteroid before it hits Earth, although the ESA says a one-metre asteroid hits Earth every two weeks.

Businessman Allan Madelar, 28, told AFP he waited for an hour in Gonzaga, a municipality in Luzon, to watch the meteor with a friend.

“It was fascinating, the color was beautiful“The sky went from black to blue-green to orange and back to black,” he said.

Audie de la Cruz, 65, set up his camera on a bridge in the city of Tuguegarao, 142 kilometers south of Gonzaga, to photograph the celestial spectacle, but the fireball went out before he could press the shutter.

“It was like a tadpole with a very big and very bright head.“I may not have managed to photograph it, but seeing it was an unforgettable experience,” de la Cruz told AFP.

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