Watch: Meteoroid Explodes Above English Channel

A meteoroid was caught on camera early Monday morning exploding over the English Channel. 

WalesOnline said the one-meter-wide meteoroid (Sar2667) entered the planet’s atmosphere between the French-English channel around 0300 local time. 

The airburst was visible in south England, Wales, and northern France. This type of cosmic event occurs when the meteoroid in the Earth’s atmosphere explodes instead of striking the surface. Airbursts unleash shockwaves and micrometeorites that hit the ground. 

Here is footage of the rare cosmic event:

⭐️Asteroid Sar2667 just before Earth impact, on Feb 13, 2023. 💫 ☄️ #Sar2667

pic.twitter.com/diK5gOycIX

— 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐌𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐏 (@CParkMD) February 13, 2023

#BREAKING ☄️ IMPRESSIVE ASTEROID CAPTURED OVER #PARIS!
#Sar2667, about a meter in diameter, lights up the sky near the French city of Le Havre at 02:59h UTC 13 February 2023 ⏰#France #BreakingNews #asteroids #Travel #MondayMotivation #BIZBoost

Credit 🎥 @tymlaly76700 pic.twitter.com/BCgP7h1Qzd

— BIZBoost™ 🚀 (@BIZBoost) February 13, 2023

#Sar2667 spotted from Guernsey pic.twitter.com/Je8bUnBEdK

— Will Dereham (@WillDereham) February 13, 2023

WalesOnline said this is the seventh time ever that scientists could track a meteoroid and predict the general area where an airburst would occur. 

American Physicist and airburst specialist Mark Boslough from the Los Alamos National Laboratory told Wales Online that while “airbursts of this size happen somewhere several times per year,” they are “rarely discovered in advance.”

In fact, he said this was only the seventh time in history one had been discovered in advance. And he said it was the first time in history this had happened “over a populated area with enough warning to get data.”

🚨ATTENTION! A small asteroid is expected to safely impact the French-English channel in ~4 hours time, 03:00:03 UT tomorrow. Object size is around ~1 meter and should appear as bright as the Moon momentarily as it enters the atmosphere. Approx visibility circle posted below. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Ckh5OBsz4l

— Tom Williams (@tw__astro) February 12, 2023

The European Space Agency tweeted that identifying the meteoroid was proof of “the rapid advancements in global asteroid detection capabilities!”