An asteroid about 1 meter in diameter burned up in Earth’s atmosphere over the Philippines near the island of Luzon early Wednesday afternoon, according to NASA. The European Space Agency estimated the impact occurred at 12:39 p.m. ET (1639 UTC).
The asteroid was spotted by astronomers in Arizona and crashed over the coast of the Philippines hours after its discovery.
The object, originally called CAQTDL2, was discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey, which has now renamed it 2024 RW1. According to the space agency, asteroids about 1 meter in diameter strike Earth about every two weeks, although they are very rarely spotted before impacting the planet.
“This is only the ninth asteroid that humanity has ever spotted before impact,” ESA tweeted.
The object was harmless because it was small enough to burn up in the atmosphere upon entering. Skywatchers in the area posted a video on social media showing a spectacular fireball.
CNN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
ABC7
