Earth hit by asteroid just hours after it was detected, 3rd 'imminent impactor' is here

A network of four telescopes identified an asteroid entering Earth's atmosphere on October 22, and just two hours later, it plummeted over the Pacific Ocean.

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey located in Hawaii is a network of telescopes dedicated to identifying asteroids that have a trajectory that lines up with Earth. The system scans the sky for any moving objects and maps their trajectory, marking those that are going to collide with the planet. As for last month's asteroid, the detection system didn't spot the space rock due to its position near the edge of two adjacent viewing fields.

The position of the asteroid resulted in it being marked as a moving object rather than an "imminent impactor" which is what it should have been categorized as. Notably, this is the third "imminent impactor" detected only hours before collision this year, with the two others being 2024 BX1, approximately 3.3 feet wide, and burnt up over Berlin, and the other, 2024 RW1, which exploded over the Philippines.

While the asteroid itself did no harm to the planet as it easily burnt up in Earth's dense atmosphere due to its size of just three feet in diameter, it highlights a gap in the detection and tracking capabilities of space agencies responsible for protecting the planet. While these undetected asteroids didn't cause any damage, there is a chance that future ones do, especially if they enter Earth's atmosphere over a populated region.

For the obvious reasons of wanting to protect Earth as much as possible from dangerous, high-speed space rocks, space agencies are investing in asteroid redirection capabilities, such as NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), the world's first successful asteroid deflection.