Astronomers predict an asteroid will hit Earth later today

Astronomers have said that the Earth will be hit by a tiny asteroid today.

But the tiny asteroid, about one meter in size, will burn up when it arrives in the atmosphere.

This means that it should not pose a threat to anyone on Earth. But it should provide them with a show: the asteroid could be visible as a fireball as it burns up in the sky.

The object was only discovered this morning by the Catalina Sky Survey, which released images of the object as it flew toward Earth.

This is only the ninth time we have discovered an asteroid before it hit Earth.

It was named 2024 RW1. Previously it was called CAQTDL2.

Astronomers have announced that the probe will arrive on Wednesday, September 4, at around 17:08 UTC (or 18:08 UK time). It will land in the Philippines, near the island of Luzon.

The European Space Agency was able to provide a fairly accurate estimate of where the object will hit.

However, there were also warnings that the nearby tropical storm could make it difficult to see the fireball.

The Earth is hit by objects from space quite frequently and almost all of them are too small to penetrate the atmosphere and pose a threat. However, because of their small size, it is difficult and rare to see them in advance.

Some impacts cause significant damage. Perhaps the most dramatic in recent times was the Chelyabinsk meteor, which fell to Earth over Russia in 2013, injuring around 1,500 people, damaging thousands of buildings and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage.

Space agencies are working to protect Earth from the danger a larger object could pose if it were to come toward Earth, including testing spacecraft that could knock the object off course. However, NASA's simulations have sometimes suggested that Earth would not be safe from such a collision.