NEW YORK—NASA reported that a small asteroid discovered on Wednesday disintegrated harmlessly in Earth’s atmosphere on the same day.
The asteroid, measuring about 3 feet across (1 meter), was first sighted by astronomers in Arizona and fragmented over the coast of the Philippines shortly after its detection.
Named 2024 RW1, this space rock is only the ninth asteroid to be identified before its impact. Asteroids of similar size approach Earth approximately every two weeks without posing any threat.
The discovery of the asteroid was made possible through the Catalina Sky Survey, a project operated by the University of Arizona and supported by NASA.
By Adithi Ramakrishnan
