NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) was able to predict and monitor the impact of a "tiny" asteroid approached Earth before streaking across the early morning dark sky on Saturday Nov. 19 and breaking up in Earth's atmosphere.
NASA JPL predicted the approach with the space agency's Scout impact hazard assessment system.
A time-lapse image taken by astronomer Robert Weryk captured the night sky as the space object streaked above on a path seen from London, Ontario in Canada before it dissolved in the atmosphere.
Kelly Fast, Near-Earth Object Observations program manager for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA, said, “The planetary defense community really demonstrated their skill and readiness with their response to this short-warning event.”
Fast said, “Such harmless impacts become spontaneous real-world exercises and give us confidence that NASA’s planetary defense systems are capable of informing the response to the potential for a serious impact by a larger object.”
NASA has created their "Eye on Asteroids" 3D modeling tool here, allowing anyone to watch and observe asteroids and their paths.
