Summary
A 27-inch asteroid, C0WEPC5, entered Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia on Tuesday, creating a harmless but visible fireball.
This marked Earth’s fourth detected asteroid strike of the year and only the 11th “imminent impactor” ever recorded.
The asteroid was detected by the Kitt Peak National Observatory ahead of impact, showcasing advancements in asteroid detection.
Separately, a larger asteroid, 2020 XR, measuring 1,200 feet in diameter, will safely pass Earth on Wednesday at a distance of 1.37 million miles.
The impacts are not comparable but perhaps in terms of detection methods they are handled mostly the same. On the one hand, being able to detect a 27 inch asteroid doesn’t matter much but on the other hand, if you can detect something that small, maybe you can detect anything that does matter. Unfortunately, I don’t think asteroid size is the only factor in detectability. A lot of it has to do with which direction it is coming from and if that is functionally obscured by the Sun or other objects.