This week, a second massive asteroid passed close to Earth in Siberia

Early on Wednesday morning, a tiny asteroid struck Earth's atmosphere, creating a stunning fireball in the sky over Russia's far east.

According to officials, a small asteroid rushed toward Earth on Tuesday night before burning out over far northeastern Russia, giving locals in the remote region of the country a natural light show.

Less than 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) in width, the flying space rock had "been spotted on a collision course" with Earth, according to a statement released earlier Tuesday by the European Space Agency, which noted that the impact would be "harmless."

Residents of the Russian republic of Yakutia reported seeing a "nice fireball in the sky over northern Siberia" at 5:15 p.m. CET (11:15 a.m. ET), according to the space agency.

NASA described the occurrence as a "harmless fireball" and acknowledged the University of Arizona’s Bok telescope for initially detecting its approach. 

Astronomers saw the phenomena some 12 hours before it arrived, and residents of the far-flung Russian province of Sakha in northeastern Siberia stood out in the snow to see it, according to the European Space Agency (ESA).

According to the ESA, the asteroid impacted Earth's atmosphere at 01:15 local time (16:15 GMT) and had an estimated diameter of 70 centimeters.

According to the Sakha emergencies ministry, no damage had been detected following the asteroid's descent, although officials had been put on watch.

According to NASA, 132 known asteroids have passed near to Earth than the moon is since October 2023. 

 

 Overall, there have been overhead of 36,000 asteroid cover- bys, the agency reported. 

 

 Adding to the solar system show this week, another asteroid, known as 2020 XR, will fly by Earth at 1227 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

 

 Significantly larger but important further down from impact than Tuesday's asteroid, 2020 XR is roughly 1,200 bases in periphery-- roughly the same as the height of New York City's Empire State Building-- but will pass Earth at a comfortable distance of 1.37 million long hauls, according to NASA. 

 

 While the massive asteroid will unlikely have any impact, and is n't considered a trouble by officers, NASA designates any object that comes within 4.6 million long hauls of Earth as" potentially dangerous."