WASHINGTON — A small asteroid was headed for a fiery but harmless dive into Earth’s atmosphere early this morning over Africa, astronomers said in a first-of- its-kind advance warning.
Harvard scientists announced late Monday afternoon that the asteroid, 2008 TC3, would burn up in the sky, making a fireball potentially visible to people in northern Africa.
Measuring between 3 feet and 15 feet in diameter, the rock was expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere above Sudan just before dawn.
NASA’s Near Earth Object program tracks asteroids and comets that come close to Earth. There are 5,681 such objects, but only 757 of them are large enough to cause any damage if they hit Earth.
This object, spotted by an Arizona telescope late Sunday and calculated Monday to be heading toward Earth, isn’t one of them.
