Bad weather hides asteroid from view

Unfavorable weather conditions due to Typhoon “Enteng” (international name: Yagi) and the enhanced southwest monsoon robbed most people of a “beautiful display” in the skies as an asteroid fell somewhere in the northernmost part of Luzon around midnight on Wednesday.

The celestial phenomenon, however, was seen by residents in the northernmost towns of Cagayan province, particularly those in the towns of Gonzaga, Sta. Ana and Lal-lo.

Some of them shared on social media video clips and photos showing the 1-meter (3-foot) falling asteroid, which was given the name 2024 RW1, glowing with a greenish light before it lit up the sky by blowing up midair.

Harmless

“It was only a small asteroid, and it doesn’t pose any threat or danger to humans or on Earth since from the time it collided with the atmosphere, it started to vaporize as it fell,” said Mario Raymundo, head of the Astronomical Observation and Time Service Unit of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.

The fragments of the asteroid that survived likely fell into the ocean, Raymundo said.

“With that small size of an asteroid, as it enters the atmosphere, it would already start to disintegrate,” he added.