Watch: Footage shows meteor falling from sky [video]

A resident from Sandpoint, Idaho in the United States captured a fireball falling from the sky on 23 December 2020.

The video was sent to KREM, a CBS-affiliated television station serving Spokane and Idaho areas. The clip shows the meteor falling north of Sandpoint. It flares brightly before disappearing behind a small mountain ridge.

Idaho meteor sighting

The KREM viewer captured the footage at his mother house in Upper Pack River Valley. According to the American Meteor Society, two other residents spotted the meteor as well, with a third report still pending.

A resident from Troy, Idaho said in his report that he spotted the meteor for a duration of 3.5 seconds. The viewer, known only as Ty, explained:

“I was on the phone with my wife, she was about 50 miles north, driving. I was driving in Troy. We both saw it at the same time. Mine was a yellowish orange, she saw it as green.

Watch: Meteor falling in Idaho

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Christmas asteroid zipped past Earth

On 25 December, a space rock approximately 200 metres wide – designated as Asteroid 501647 (2014 SD224) – made a close approach to Earth. While it doesn’t sound very large, it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty.

We say “close approach” but there was no danger of it colliding with Earth; the meteor came within 11 806 049 kilometres.

According to Nasa’s Close Approach table, a much smaller asteroid – designated 2020 XY – also passed by on the same day. The smaller space rock came within 22 369 356 kilometres from Earth.

NASA labelled both asteroids as Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) and confirmed that Asteroid 501647 (2014 SD224) was travelling at a speed of around 35 406 kilometres per hour.

Asteroids on course for Earth

One of the entries earliest visitors on NASA’s “Sentry: Earth Impact Monitoring” list – Asteroid 2009 JF1 – was discovered more than a decade ago. It measures only 12 metres in diameter and will fly by or hit Earth in 2022.

Another tiny asteroid, known as 2018 VP1, is expected to arrive at some point between 2020 and 2025. The largest asteroid on the list isn’t actually expected to come into contact with Earth until the year 2880.

That mister of a space rock is called 29075 (1950 DA), and it is almost three times as big as the Empire State Building; roughly 1.3 kilometres in diameter. It could cause significant damage if it impacts Earth.

When is space rock potentially hazardous?

As per NASA, a PHA is defined based on “parameters that measure the asteroid’s potential to make threatening close approaches to Earth”. That means that an asteroid will be classified as a PHA if it comes within 0.05 AU of Earth.

Any fast-moving space object (mostly comets and asteroids) that comes within around 7.48 million kilometres is considered to be “potentially hazardous” by cautious space organisations.

As of January 2020, there are 2 044 known potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), of which 157 are estimated to be larger than one kilometre in diameter.

Also read: Lab developing device to help Earth dodge asteroids