00:00Nothing special at first, tweeted astronomer Christian Czarnecki about an asteroid he spotted
00:09hours before it lit up the skies over the English Channel as a blazing fireball.
00:15This marked only the seventh time in human history that an asteroid was detected prior
00:20to entering Earth's atmosphere, and of those, it was the third such detection in 12 months.
00:26Not only that, but measuring just over 3 feet wide, 2023 CX1 is also one of the smallest
00:33impactors ever detected.
00:36That's huge, scientifically speaking.
00:38It means humans are getting a lot better at spotting potential meteorites before they
00:42hit.
00:43To date, astronomers have discovered and catalogued over 30,000 near-Earth asteroids, space rocks
00:50which pose some risk to entering Earth's space as they orbit around the sun.
00:55Most of these are pretty tiny, and like 2023 CX1, would likely burn up upon entering Earth's
01:01atmosphere.
01:02Though such events pose little danger to humans, more advanced warning can only give us a better
01:08opportunity to catch the fireworks.
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