Just hours before impact - this week a hi-tech telescope spotted an asteroid, then watched it hit Earth
Astronomers successfully detected a small 80cm asteroid just six hours before it impacted Earth off the coast of Australia. This marks only the 13th time an asteroid has been identified prior to atmospheric entry.
Why it matters
Improving early detection capabilities for small near-Earth objects is a critical component of global planetary defense strategies.
Planetary defence scientists caught an asteroid smashing into Earth off the coast of Australia this week – and only had a 6-hour warning that it would impact.
On Sunday, September 6, 2026, automated tracking telescopes at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, USA picked up a faint object streaking across the sky.
The object turned out to be an asteroid measuring just 80cm (2.6 feet) wide – staggeringly small considering the ground-based observatory picked it out amongst background stars before it crashed into the ocean.
Six hours after it was discovered, the asteroid, provisionally designated CERNQ52, burned up upon entry over the Indian Ocean off the northwest coast of Australia at 16:07 UTC, according to preliminary results released by the European Space Agency .
While the event produced no damage and no crater, planetary defence experts will see this detection as a success.
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