South Africa: Asteroid Lights Up the Sky as it Crashes on South Africa, Botswana Border

5 June 2018

Cape Town — A 2-metre-wide asteroid illuminated the sky above the South Africa-Botswana border as it burned up in a fireball caught on CCTV footage, Space.com reports.

The rock, labelled 2018 LA, was first spotted by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, according to Gizmodo. After determining that 2018 LA was on a collision course with the planet, researchers predicted several locations were it might land before concluding that southern Africa would be where it would most likely land.

According to the New York Post, Asteroid trackers at NASA determined that the asteroid was too small to pose any danger. "This was a much smaller object than we are tasked to detect and warn about," NASA's planetary defense officer, Lindley Johnson, said in a statement. "However, this real-world event allows us to exercise our capabilities and gives some confidence our impact prediction models are adequate to respond to the potential impact of a larger object."

CCTV camera footage from Barend Swanepoel and Wikus van Zyl from a farm near Klerksdorp captured 2018 LA illuminating the night sky as it burned through the atmosphere, this report from The South African says. It can be seen growing in speed and size before it finally crashes in a bright flash.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.