Small asteroid burns up over northeastern Russia, creating spectacular light show - VIDEO

A small asteroid hurtled toward Earth and burned up above northeastern Russia on Tuesday night, creating a stunning light display for residents in the remote region, according to officials.

The flying space rock, which was less than 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) wide, had "been spotted on a collision course" with Earth, the European Space Agency said earlier Tuesday, predicting that the impact would be "harmless," News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

A "nice fireball in the sky over northern Siberia" was reportedly spotted at 5:15 p.m. CET (11:15 a.m. ET) by residents in the Russian republic of Yakutia, the space agency said.

NASA called the event a "harmless fireball" and credited the University of Arizona’s Bok telescope for having first spotted its approach.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from the asteroid, which was dubbed C0WEPC5.

“Thanks to observations from astronomers around the world, our alert system was able to predict this impact to within +/- 10 seconds,” the agency said.

#Asteroide fiery fescent over #Yakutia lights up #Russian Sky; #ViralVideos capture spectacular flare pic.twitter.com/ackZp9tDsO

— News.Az (@news_az) December 4, 2024

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