An asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere was spotted over the English Channel last night.
Twitter users in southern England could see the one-meter asteroid, called Sar2667, until 3am on Monday.
Video shows the asteroid – also known as a meteoroid given its size – lighting up the night sky and appearing to explode as it moves, creating a meteor effect.
The asteroid was discovered just before 3am last night.Image: Twitter / @KadeFlowers / via Reuters
It was also one of the few cases where the asteroid was detected before it entered Earth’s atmosphere using the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Imminent Impact Alert system.
The system, called Meerkat, detected that the asteroid would safely hit Earth’s atmosphere near Rouen in northern France between 2.50am and 3.03am UK time.
This is the seventh time the system has detected an asteroid before it entered the atmosphere.
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In a tweet, ESA said its detection was “a sign of rapid progress in global asteroid detection capabilities.”
This sighting came after a different asteroid Created one of the closest approaches ever made to Earth.
Last month, an asteroid the size of a small truck came within 2,200 miles of the southern tip of South America.