An Asteroid Hit Earth Just Hours After Being Detected.

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Last month, an asteroid impacted Earth's atmosphere just hours after being detected ⁘ somehow, it managed to circumvent impact monitoring systems during its approach to our planet. However, on the bright side, the object measured just 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter and posed very little threat to anything on Earth's surface.

This asteroid, designated 2024 UQ, was first discovered on Oct. 22 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey in Hawaii, a network of four telescopes that scan the sky for moving objects that might be space rocks on a collision course with Earth. Two hours later, the asteroid burned up over the Pacific Ocean near California, making it an "imminent impactor."

"By the time the astrometry reached the impact monitoring systems, the impact had already happened."

ESA's NEO Coordination Center (NEOCC) says flashes were detected by undefined and Atmospheric Administration's GOES weather satellites and undefined, a NASA project that uses a series of telescopes to search for asteroids and comets in our celestial neighborhood. These flashes were enough to confirm asteroid 2024 UQ's impact as well as its trajectory.

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Planetary defense efforts that aim to catalog the myriad of space rocks in our neck of the cosmic woods have become a major priority for space agencies worldwide. Aside from undefined survey, Catalina Sky Survey, ESA's NEOCC and other projects like them, NASA is developing a new infrared telescope known as NEO Surveyor to hunt for potentially threatening near-Earth objects.

But it's not all just about detection and tracking. Space agencies are testing methods of redirecting incoming asteroids should the need ever arise. In 2022, NASA's DART mission crashed an impactor into a double asteroid system in an attempt to change its trajectory (the endeavor was a success). China is also developing its own mission to deflect an asteroid by 2030.