A 3 - metre asteroid scorch into view and split up through the Earth ’s air on March 11 , before possibly landing off the seashore of Iceland . What makes the asteroid so limited is that uranologist only mark it just two hours before it made link with Earth , making it only the fifth asteroid that has been spotted before reach the satellite .

It is unclear whether the asteroid actually hit the water or recrudesce up in the atmosphere , though local report from Iceland state there was a turgid fireball overhead . The near - earthly concern objects coordination center at theEuropean Space Agency(ESA ) is now appealing for any footage of the asteroid , though they remark it is unlikely due to the withdrawnness of the location .

The discovery was made by Krisztián Sárneczky at a Magyar observatory , who pointed out a " undimmed and fast - moving object " in the night sky . The object was bring up Sar2593 and deemed to have an shock likelihood of less than 1 percentage .

However , comply that designation , automatic systems pick up that Sar2593 would actually have an impact opportunity of 100 per centum , land somewhere near Northern Ireland . Quickly , astronomers from all over the existence began attempting to monitor the object , which is no easy feat when it is move at 18.5 kilometers ( 11 naut mi ) per second and flying so close to Earth .

Sometime between 9:21 Prime Minister and 9:25 pm UTC , the object was estimated to have impact Earth – that is , if it managed to make it through the atmosphere before burning up . Currently , there is no concrete evidence to indicate it did touch down , but there have been indications of a great impact off the coast of Iceland that may be a short more than a coincidence .

Both Iceland and Greenland picked up sign originating from an impact with an push release of around 2 to 3 kiloton of TNT – for reference , the largest inadvertent non - nuclear blast in chronicle , theHalifax blowup , was tantamount to 2.9 kilotons of TNT – indicating an asteroid of around 3 to 4 meters in diameter rack up the ocean nearby .

Scorching through the atmosphere at that focal ratio would have had a destructive upshot on the asteroid , with large amounts cave in away and vaporize . This is often encounter as large flashes of light , telephone a ball of fire , as rubbing with the air breaks the asteroid apart .

ESA are now calling on anyone that may have spot the asteroid to submit their footage , which you could visithere .