2023 CX1

Last updated

2023 CX1
Sar2667 as it entered Earth's atmosphere over the north of France.jpg
Photograph of 2023 CX1 as it entered Earth's atmosphere over northern France on 13 February 2023
Discovery [1] [2]
Discovered by Krisztián Sárneczky
Discovery site Piszkéstető Stn.
Discovery date12 February 2023
Designations
2023 CX1
Sar2667
NEO  · Apollo
Orbital characteristics [3]
Epoch 1 January 2023 (JD 2459945.5)
Uncertainty parameter 5 [4]
Observation arc 6.57 hours (0.27 d) [1]
Aphelion 2.337 AU
Perihelion 0.921 AU
1.629 AU
Eccentricity 0.4346
2.08 yr (760 days)
325.105°
0° 28m 25.982s / day
Inclination 3.419°
323.870°
13 February 2021 [5]
218.790°
Earth  MOID 0.000111  AU (16,600  km; 0.043  LD)
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
≈ 1 m [6] [7]
Mass ≈ 1000 kg [8]
≈ 13 (peak) [1]
32.645±0.512 [4]
32.76 [1]

    2023 CX1, initially known under temporary designation Sar2667, was a metre-sized asteroid or meteoroid that entered Earth's atmosphere on 13 February 2023 02:59 UTC and disintegrated as a meteor over the coast of Normandy, France along the English Channel. [6] It was discovered less than seven hours before impact, by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky at Konkoly Observatory's Piszkéstető Station in the Mátra Mountains, Hungary. [2] [9] 2023 CX1 is the seventh asteroid discovered before impacting Earth and successfully predicted, and the third of those for which meteorites have been recovered. Before it impacted, 2023 CX1 was a near-Earth asteroid on an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit. [1]

    Contents

    Discovery

    During a routine search for near-Earth objects with his 0.6-metre (60 cm; 2 ft; 24 in) Schmidt telescope, [10] Krisztián Sárneczky first imaged 2023 CX1 on 12 February 2023 at 20:18:07 UTC, when it was already less than 233,000 km (145,000 mi) from Earth and inside the orbit of the Moon at 0.61 lunar distances. [2] [11] At discovery, the asteroid had an apparent magnitude of 19.4 and moved quickly in the northern hemisphere sky, at an angular rate of 14 arcseconds per minute and a radial velocity of 9 km/s (5.6 mi/s) towards Earth. [11] Sárneczky immediately recognized it was a near-Earth object, but only realized it was on course for impact with Earth when he reobserved it half an hour later. [9] Sárneczky gave the object the temporary designation Sar2667 and reported the discovery to the Minor Planet Center's (MPC's) Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page at 20:49 UTC, calling for further follow-up from other observatories around the world. [12] Astronomers at Višnjan Observatory in Tičan, Croatia observed the asteroid starting at 21:03 UTC and confirmed that it was headed for impact with Earth. [2] [13]

    The European Space Agency took notice of the asteroid's impending impact and alerted the public through social media. [10] Astronomers around the world continuously observed the asteroid to refine its trajectory as it approached Earth and its impact location. [12] [11] The asteroid reached a peak brightness of magnitude 13 (about the brightness of Pluto) right before it entered Earth's shadow at around 02:50 UTC. It then faded dramatically and became invisible until impact. [1] [12] The asteroid was last observed on 13 February 2023 02:52:07 UTC by Jost Jahn at the SATINO Remote Observatory in Haute Provence, France, just two minutes after it entered Earth's shadow and seven minutes before it impacted. [1] [11] At the time of that last observation, the asteroid had faded from magnitude 13 to 16 and moved extremely quickly at an angular rate of 1.7 degrees per minute, at a distance of approximately 11,100 km (6,900 mi) from Earth's center (4,700 km or 2,900 mi altitude [lower-alpha 1] ). [14]

    On 13 February 2023 04:13 UTC (one hour after the impact), MPC gave the asteroid its official minor planet provisional designation 2023 CX1. At least 20 observatories observed 2023 CX1 and submitted astrometry to the MPC before impact, with over 300 astrometric positions recorded in total. [2] [1]

    Impact

    Flight path of 2023 CX1 plotted on a map, starting from the English Channel and ending at the coast of Normandy, France to the east. 2023 CX1 ground track UKMON.png
    Flight path of 2023 CX1 plotted on a map, starting from the English Channel and ending at the coast of Normandy, France to the east.

    At 02:59:21 UTC (local time 03:59:21 CET), 2023 CX1 entered the atmosphere at a velocity of 14.5 km/s (9.0 mi/s) with an inclination 40–50° relative to the vertical. [13] [15] As the meteoroid travelled eastward over the English Channel to the coast of Normandy, France, it experienced significant atmospheric drag and began burning up as a bright meteor at an altitude of 89 km (55 mi). [13] [8] It was seen by witnesses from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany. [10] [16] The meteor began fragmenting at an altitude of 29 km (18 mi) and then completely broke apart at 28 km (17 mi), producing a bright flash due to the rapid vaporization of its fragments. [8] In the process, the meteor released a great amount of kinetic energy. That produced a shock wave, which was heard by some witnesses and was detected by French seismographs. [15] The meteor disappeared at an altitude of 20 km (12 mi), after which its resulting meteorites continued falling in dark flight. [8] Over 80 witness reports of the meteor were submitted to the International Meteor Organization (IMO). [16]

    The 94g meteorite found by Lois Leblanc Meteorite Saint-Pierre-le-Viger Lois Leblanc-Rappe MNHN Mineralogie.jpg
    The 94g meteorite found by Loïs Leblanc

    Upon breakup, 2023 CX1 dropped meteorites over the Normandy region and produced a strewn field spanning from Dieppe to Doudeville. [15] Guided by Peter Jenniskens, researchers and citizen scientists of the Fireball Recovery and Interplanetary Observation Network (FRIPON  [ fr ]) immediately began a coordinated search effort in the expected meteorite fall area. [17] On 15 February 2023 15:47 UTC (local time 16:47 CET), FRIPON member and art student Loïs Leblanc found the first meteorite of 2023 CX1 in a field in the commune of Saint-Pierre-le-Viger. [17] The meteorite weighed about 95 g (3.4 oz) [18] and is described as a "dark stone." [17] [19] By March 2023, over 20 additional meteorites were recovered, with masses ranging 2 to 350 g (0.1 to 12.3 oz). [18] The IMO estimates that 2023 CX1 could have dropped only one large meteorite up to ~2 kg (4 lb) in mass, plus an uncertain number of smaller meteorites up to several tens of grams each. [6] [8] The largest meteorite is expected to have landed near the commune of Vénestanville. [8]

    2023 CX1 is the seventh asteroid discovered before being successfully predicted to impact Earth, and also the third whose meteorites were collected after its predicted impact. [6] [17] It is Sárneczky's second discovery of an impacting asteroid, after 2022 EB5 which he discovered a year prior in March 2022. [10]

    Orbit

    Prior to impact, 2023 CX1 was on an Apollo-type orbit that crossed the orbits of Earth and Mars. [3] It orbited the Sun at an average distance of 1.63 astronomical units (244×10^6 km; 152×10^6 mi), varying from 0.92 AU at perihelion to 2.34 AU at aphelion due to its eccentric orbit. [3] The orbit had a low inclination of 3.4° with respect to the ecliptic and an orbital period of 2.08 years. The asteroid last passed perihelion on 13 February 2021 and impacted Earth before it was set to make its next perihelion on 15 March 2023. [5] [3]

    The last time 2023 CX1 made a close approach to Earth was around 7 (± 1) June 2000, when it passed around 150–161  LD (58–62 million km; 36–38 million mi) from the planet. [4] Before that, 2023 CX1 had made several distant close approaches with Earth and Mars during the 1900s, though it probably never approached within 10 LD (3.8 million km; 2.4 million mi) from these planets. [4]

    See also

    Notes

    1. ↑ Altitude is the difference between the geocentric distance and Earth's radius of 6,371 km (3,959 mi).

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Meteoroid</span> Sand- to boulder-sized particle of debris in the Solar System

    A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are distinguished as objects significantly smaller than asteroids, ranging in size from grains to objects up to a meter wide. Objects smaller than meteoroids are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Most are fragments from comets or asteroids, whereas others are collision impact debris ejected from bodies such as the Moon or Mars.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">8P/Tuttle</span> Periodic comet with 13 year orbit

    8P/Tuttle is a periodic comet with a 13.6-year orbit. It fits the classical definition of a Jupiter-family comet with an orbital period of less than 20 years, but does not fit the modern definition of. Its last perihelion passage was 27 August 2021 when it had a solar elongation of 26 degrees at approximately apparent magnitude 9. Two weeks later, on September 12, 2021, it was about 1.8 AU (270 million km) from Earth which is about as far from Earth as the comet can get when the comet is near perihelion.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Piszkéstető Station</span> Observatory

    The Piszkéstető Station or Piszkéstető Mountain Station is an astronomical observatory in Mátraszentimre in Mátra Mountains, about 80 kilometers (50 mi) northeast of Hungary's capital Budapest. It is a station of Konkoly Observatory, first built in 1958. It has the observatory code 461 and 561 for being used by the Szeged University and Konkoly Observatory, respectively.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková</span> Periodic comet with 5 year orbit

    45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková is a short-period comet discovered by Minoru Honda December 3, 1948. It is named after Minoru Honda, Antonín Mrkos, and Ľudmila Pajdušáková. The object revolves around the Sun on an elliptical orbit with a period of 5.25 years. The nucleus is 1.3 kilometers in diameter. On August 19 and 20, 2011, it became the fifteenth comet detected by ground radar telescope.

    Comet 322P/SOHO, also designated P/1999 R1, P/2003 R5, P/2007 R5, and P/2011 R4, is the first periodic comet to be discovered using the automated telescopes of the SOHO spacecraft, and second to be given a numbered designation, after 321P/SOHO. JPL Horizons next predicts 322P to come to perihelion on 21 August 2023 at around apparent magnitude 6 and only 3 degrees from the Sun. At perihelion it is six times closer to the Sun than the planet Mercury is at perihelion.

    <span class="nowrap">2008 TC<sub>3</sub></span> 2008 asteroid-type meteoroid

    2008 TC3 (Catalina Sky Survey temporary designation 8TA9D69) was an 80-tonne (80-long-ton; 90-short-ton), 4.1-meter (13 ft) diameter asteroid that entered Earth's atmosphere on October 7, 2008. It exploded at an estimated 37 kilometers (23 mi) above the Nubian Desert in Sudan. Some 600 meteorites, weighing a total of 10.5 kilograms (23.1 lb), were recovered; many of these belonged to a rare type known as ureilites, which contain, among other minerals, nanodiamonds.

    1994 WR12 is an asteroid and near-Earth object approximately 130 meters (430 feet) in diameter. As a member of the Aten group almost all of its orbit is closer to the Sun than Earth is. On 24 November 1994 it passed about 374100 km from the Moon. First imaged at Kitami Observatory on 26 November 1994, it was discovered two nights later by American astronomer Carolyn S. Shoemaker at Palomar Observatory on 28 November 1994. The asteroid then went unobserved from 1994 until it was recovered by Mauna Kea in March 2016. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 2 April 2016.

    2010 RF12 is a very small asteroid, classified as near-Earth object of the Apollo group, that passed between Earth and the Moon on 8 September 2010, at 21:12 UTC, approaching Earth within 79,000 kilometres (49,000 mi) above Antarctica. The asteroid was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey near Tucson, Arizona on 5 September 2010 along with 2010 RX30. Based on a short 7-day observation arc from that apparation, it was listed for 12 years on the Sentry Risk Table as the asteroid with the greatest known probability (5%) of impacting Earth. 2010 RF12 was rediscovered in August 2022, and now has a 12 year observation arc and a much better known orbit. As of the December 2022 solution which accounts for nongravitational forces, there is a 1-in-10 chance of an Earth impact on 5 September 2095.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">209P/LINEAR</span>

    209P/LINEAR is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 5.1 years. The comet has extremely low activity for its size and is probably in the process of evolving into an extinct comet.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 AA</span>

    2014 AA was a small Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 2–4 meters in diameter that struck Earth on 2 January 2014. It was discovered on 1 January 2014 by Richard Kowalski at the Mount Lemmon Survey at an apparent magnitude of 19 using a 1.52-meter (60 in) reflecting telescope at Mount Lemmon Observatory. 2014 AA was only observed over a short observation arc of about 70 minutes, and entered Earth's atmosphere about 21 hours after discovery. Nonetheless, it remains one of only a few asteroids observed before impact.

    2018 VP1 is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 2 meters (7 feet) in diameter. The asteroid had a 0.41% chance (1 in 240) of impacting Earth on 2 November 2020 01:12 UT. It was discovered on 3 November 2018 when it was about 0.003 AU (450,000 km; 280,000 mi) from Earth and had a solar elongation of 165 degrees. The asteroid has a short 12.9 day observation arc. It was last observed on 16 November 2018 by the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope at apparent magnitude 26 pushing the telescope close to the limiting magnitude.

    2020 VT4 is a tiny near-Earth asteroid that passed 370 km (230 mi) above Earth's surface on 13 November 2020 at 17:20 UTC. The asteroid was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) survey at the Mauna Loa Observatory fifteen hours after its closest approach to Earth. The Earth encounter perturbed the asteroid's trajectory from an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit to an Aten-type orbit, subsequently reducing the asteroid's heliocentric orbital period from 1.5 years to 0.86 years.

    2020 SW is a tiny near-Earth asteroid discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 18 September 2020, six days before it made its closest approach to Earth. The asteroid passed within 21,600 kilometres (13,400 mi) from Earth's surface on 24 September 2020 11:13 UT, within the geostationary altitude of 36,000 kilometres (22,000 mi). The encounter with Earth perturbed the asteroid's heliocentric trajectory from an Apollo-type orbit to an Aten-type orbit with a semi-major axis within one astronomical unit from the Sun. As a result, the asteroid will not make any close approaches to Earth within 0.01 astronomical units (4 LD) in the next 200 years.

    2021 GW4 is an Apollo near-Earth object roughly 5 meters (20 feet) in diameter. It was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on 8 April 2021. On 12 April 2021 13:01 UTC it passed 19821 km from the surface of Earth. The uncertainty in the close approach distance was ±30 km.

    <span class="nowrap">2022 EB<sub>5</sub></span> 2022 asteroid-type meteoroid

    2022 EB5 was a small, two-metre Apollo near-Earth asteroid that disintegrated in Earth's atmosphere at 21:22 UTC on 11 March 2022, over the Arctic Ocean southwest of the Norwegian island Jan Mayen. With an atmospheric entry speed of 18 km/s (11 mi/s), the asteroid's impact generated a 4-kiloton-equivalent fireball that was detected by infrasound from Greenland and Norway. A bright flash possibly associated with the event was reported by observers from Northern Iceland.

    <span class="nowrap">2022 FD<sub>1</sub></span>

    2022 FD1 is a small, metre-sized Apollo near-Earth asteroid that was eclipsed by Earth and made its closest approach 8,470 km (5,260 mi) from Earth's surface on 25 March 2022. It entered Earth's shadow at 8:10 UTC and became invisible until egress at 8:45 UTC. Its brightness from Earth reached a peak apparent magnitude of 13 shortly before closest approach at 09:13 UTC. By that time, the asteroid was moving at a speed of 18.5 km/s (11.5 mi/s) relative to Earth and was located in the far Southern hemisphere sky.

    <span class="nowrap">2022 WJ<sub>1</sub></span> Meteoroid that impacted near Ontario, Canada in November 2022

    2022 WJ1, formerly designated C8FF042, was a small, harmless ≈1-metre near-Earth asteroid or meteoroid that impacted Earth's atmosphere on 19 November 2022 at 08:27 UT in Southern Ontario, Canada, above the Golden Horseshoe region, southwest of Toronto. Meteorites were detected by weather radar during dark flight.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 BU</span> Near-Earth asteroid

    2023 BU is a near-Earth object that passed 9,967 ± 1 km (6,193.21 ± 0.62 mi) from the centerpoint of Earth around 27 January 2023 00:29 UT. Since Earth's radius is about 6,378 km (3,963 mi), it was expected to pass approximately 3,589 ± 1 km (2,230.10 ± 0.62 mi) from the surface of Earth over the southern tip of South America. It passed at an altitude above low Earth orbit which is 2,000 km (1,200 mi) and below geostationary orbit which is 36,000 km (22,000 mi). The asteroid is about 3–8 meters in diameter and approached Earth from the night sky. It is the fourth closest non-impacting approach known to Earth after 2020 VT4, 2020 QG, and 2021 UA1.

    <span class="nowrap">2024 BX<sub>1</sub></span> 2024 meteoroid

    2024 BX1, previously known under its temporary designation Sar2736, was a metre-sized asteroid or meteoroid that entered Earth's atmosphere on 21 January 2024 00:33 UTC and disintegrated as a meteor over Berlin. It was discovered less than three hours before impact by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky at Konkoly Observatory's Piszkéstető Station in the Mátra Mountains, Hungary. The fireball was observed by the cameras of the AllSky7 and Fripon networks. 2024 BX1 is the eighth asteroid discovered before impacting Earth, and is Sárneczky's third discovery of an impacting asteroid. Before it impacted, 2024 BX1 was a near-Earth asteroid on an Earth-crossing Apollo-type orbit.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "2023 CX1". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    2. 1 2 3 4 5 "MPEC 2023-C103 : 2023 CX1". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    3. 1 2 3 4 "Horizons Batch showing epoch 2023-Jan-01". JPL Horizons . Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    4. 1 2 3 4 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (2023 CX1)" (2023-02-13 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    5. 1 2 "Perihelion @ 0.922 AU on 13 Feb 2021". JPL Horizons (Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    6. 1 2 3 4 Whitt, Kelly Kizer (15 February 2023). "Small asteroid impacts Earth's atmosphere over France". EarthSky. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
    7. ↑ Antier, Karl (13 February 2023). "Imminent asteroid entry over the Channel on Feb.13, 02h59 UT". International Meteor Organization. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Borovička, Jiří; Spurný, Pavel (15 February 2023). "The atmospheric trajectory of 2023 CX1 and the possible meteorite strewn field". International Meteor Organization. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
    9. 1 2 "Pictures from space! Our image of the day". Space.com. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    10. 1 2 3 4 Howell, Elizabeth (13 February 2023). "Falling asteroid sparks brilliant fireball over Europe just hours after discovery (video)". Space.com. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    11. 1 2 3 4 "Horizons Batch from 2023-Feb-12 20:18 and 2023-Feb-13 03:00". JPL Horizons . Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    12. 1 2 3 "Seventh shooting star ever spotted before strike". European Space Agency. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    13. 1 2 3 Antier, Karl (13 February 2023). "2023 CX1 : 7th predicted Earth impact!". International Meteor Organization. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    14. ↑ "Horizons Batch on 2023-Feb-13 02:52:07". JPL Horizons . Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
    15. 1 2 3 Steinhausser, Asma (14 February 2023). "Pluie de pierres en Normandie!" (in French). FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
    16. 1 2 "Fireball Events in 2023 → 937-2023". International Meteor Organization. 13 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
    17. 1 2 3 4 Antier, Karl (15 February 2023). "Une météorite normande issue de 2023 CX1 retrouvée!" (in French). FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
    18. 1 2 Green, Daniel W. E. (6 March 2023). "CBET 5230 : 2023 CX_1". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams. Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (5230). Retrieved 18 February 2024.
    19. ↑ Dickinson, David (17 February 2023). "Small Asteroid Spotted Hours Before Demise". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.