WATCH | Small Asteroid Explodes Above East Germany, Illuminating Night Sky

In the early hours of January 21, the sky near Berlin, Germany, witnessed the passage of a small asteroid as it entered Earth's atmosphere.

Subsequently, upon entering the atmosphere, the asteroid exploded mid-air, generating a harmless yet bright fireball visible for miles.

Small Astroid enters Earth

The cosmic rock, initially discovered by astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky, an asteroid hunter working at the Piszkéstető Mountain Station, part of Konkoly Observatory in Hungary, was identified using the observatory's 60-cm Schmidt telescope.

A comprehensive forecast of the meteor's impact location and time was released by NASA shortly after the discovery of the space rock.

Here's another view of the asteroid near Berlin:

The latter tweet, shared on X, garnered more than one lakh likes and received over 1,400 comments. The post also accumulated numerous comments, with many expressing astonishment at the sight of the exploding space rock. An individual commented, "Incredible footage, really enjoyed watching. Thank you for posting."

A second remark was, "Wow! Great video! Amazing capture." "Look at the reflection in the water at the bottom left of the screen! It was close. Thank God it did not land," was posted by a third. A fourth statement shared, "Wow, this is amazing."

NASA Confirms Near-Earth Asteroid Explosion

The incident on X was also confirmed by the US space agency NASA about 20 minutes before impact. "Heads Up: A tiny asteroid will disintegrate as a harmless fireball west of Berlin near Nennhausen shortly at 1:32am CET. Overseers will see it if it's clear," was written by NASA.

According to CBS News, Denis Vida explained that the asteroid "probably dropped some meteorites on the ground" as it zoomed through the atmosphere and broke apart. He also mentioned that the asteroid began to disintegrate about 50 kilometers west of Berlin.

This incident marked the 8th time an asteroid was discovered before hitting our planet and the 3rd time that Krisztian Sarneczky made the finding, as reported by the New York Post. The "asteroid hunter" also discovered a space rock that stuck north of Iceland in 2022 and one that exploded over the English Channel during last year's Super Bowl.

Notably, the next possible dangerous collision could happen in 2182, when there is a 1 in 2,700 chance that a small near-Earth asteroid named Bennu could penetrate the atmosphere.