Small asteroid hits Earth just hours after astronomers detect it

Will Gater is a writer.

An explosion in the atmosphere over the northern part of the planet was caused by a small asteroid that collided with Earth on March 11.

The space rock was first detected by an astronomer at the Station Observatory in Hungary. It plunged through the skies to the north-eastern part of the country just after 9.20pm. Only five asteroids have been found and observed before hitting Earth.

The rapid dissemination of information from the discoverers allowed other astronomer to make more observations from different vantage points with enough lead time to calculate a precise orbit and its intersection with Earth.