“2024 RW1 and the Importance of Small Asteroid Impacts”
By Dr. Peter Jenniskens (meteor astronomer, SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center)
September 29 (Sunday) at 9:30 am Philippine Standard Time/September 28 (Saturday) at 9:30 pm EDT
Just after midnight on September 5, 2024, a small asteroid called 2024 RW1 impacted Earth’s atmosphere and created a very bright meteor (fireball) seen by many in Northeastern Luzon, Philippines. The green fireball created a veil of orange fragments, some of which may have survived and now rest on the bottom of the Pacific ocean as meteorites. This impact was special because it was announced by astronomers who had seen the asteroid approach Earth on a collision trajectory. Because the asteroid impact was announced, it was recorded in many spectacular videos. This was only the ninth time this had happened. In four of those cases, the impact was over land. In each case, astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens teamed up with local researchers and was able to guide the recovery of meteorites. This talk will narrate those adventures and what we have learned from studying the meteors and the surviving meteorites.
Dr. Peter Jenniskens is a meteor astronomer with the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in California. He is an expert on meteor showers and meteorite falls and is the author of the books “Meteor Showers and Their Parent Comets” (2006) and “Atlas of Earth’s Meteor Showers” (2023).