Krisztián Sárneczky, a Hungarian astronomer at the Piszkésteto Mountain Station, part of the Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, identified a small asteroid on March 11, 2022, barely two hours before it collided with Earth's atmosphere.
The asteroid is estimated to have been around 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter when it first formed. This object, now known as 2022 EB5, entered the Earth's atmosphere north of Iceland on March 11 at 21:22 UTC. Tony Dunn, an orbit simulation specialist, posted on Twitter (@tony873004):
When 2022 EB5 struck the Earth north of Iceland this morning, it became the 5th asteroid to be discovered prior to impacting Earth.
Impact! When 2022 EB5 struck the Earth north of Iceland this morning, it became the 5th asteroid to be discovered prior to impacting Earth. pic.twitter.com/kYsQ40uuFq
— Tony Dunn (@tony873004) March 12, 2022
The other four are the 2014 AA, the 2018 LA, the 2008 TC3, and the 2019 MO.
The asteroid was traveling at a speed of roughly 11 miles per second (18.5 kilometers per second). This is in contrast to Earth's orbital speed of 18 miles per second (30 km/s). Due to friction with the air, all or portion of this minor asteroid would have vaporized during its transit through our atmosphere. As a result of its headlong journey through our atmosphere, it should have produced a dazzling meteor, also known as a fireball.
5th Earth impactor from Piszkéstető Obs: 2022 EB5
— Stefan Kurti (@KurtiStefan) March 12, 2022
Yesterday at 19:24 UT an unknown moving objects of 17 mag was found by K. Sárneczky on images from 0.6-m Schmidt telescope. Acquired data 30 min later showed that it was going to collide with Earth in 2 hours time. pic.twitter.com/NdLUcF1MnM
The International Meteor Organization is looking for witnesses to the spectacular meteor generated by 2022 EB5. A few people in Iceland claimed to have seen a dazzling flash of light or heard a boom. If you reside in Iceland or Norway and believe you observed the subsequent meteor following the asteroid's collision with Earth, please use this link to report your findings.
So far there are some reports of space rock surviving the atmosphere and hitting the surface but researchers are still evaluating if it burned in the atmosphere or not.