Asteroid Falls Over Berlin, Rotating at Superfast Speed

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Asteroid illustration.

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Scientists have discovered that the asteroid that hit Earth’s atmosphere earlier this year was spinning at the highest speed ever known. That is, one rotation every 2.6 seconds.

Reported WION, Saturday (4/5/2024), this asteroid is known as 2024 BX1. It is likely that 2024 BX1 will be no more than one meter wide and will enter Earth’s atmosphere on January 21.

It was destroyed to pieces in Berlin, Germany. However, some parts survived this falling asteroid and were later discovered.

2024 BX1 is the first asteroid visible before entering Earth’s atmosphere. This is a rare case where scientists were able to track the fall of an asteroid and find the space rock before it entered Earth’s atmosphere. In this case, it was visible just three hours before the asteroid’s entry.

Images of the asteroid were taken by Maxime Devogele and colleagues at the European Space Agency’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Center in Italy before the impact. This asteroid, which moves at a speed of around 50,000 kilometers per hour, has an elongated shape, which means its brightness changes due to rotation.

This change in brightness corresponds to a rotation time of 2.588 seconds, which is about 30,000 rotations per day.

“This is [putaran] the fastest we’ve ever observed,” Devogele said.

Asteroids are known to spin for various reasons, such as collisions they may have experienced early in their lives. Space rocks are generally more than a kilometer in size and cannot rotate more than once every 2.2 hours or they will break apart.

However, smaller asteroids like 2024 BX1 can survive a much faster spin because they are denser.

“They have internal strength, so they can spin faster,” Devogele said.

Observing the rotation of an object is more useful for planetary defense, helping scientists understand how powerful a small asteroid is and how likely it is to survive passing through Earth’s atmosphere.

“If it’s hard, the reaction is going to be different than if it’s a block of snow that doesn’t have any internal strength,” Devogele said.