China's observatory captures rare images of falling near-Earth asteroid

KUNMING -- An observatory in Southwest China's Yunnan province has captured rare images of a falling near-Earth asteroid, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced on Friday.

The Lijiang branch of the CAS Yunnan Observatories detected the near-Earth asteroid 2024 XA1 at 13:55 Beijing time on Dec 3 through its 2.4-meter telescope. At around 00:14 on Dec 4, the asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere over eastern Siberia and ignited, creating a bright fireball. The time from detecting the asteroid to its falling into the Earth was less than 12 hours, said Zhang Xiliang, a researcher at the Lijiang observatory.

The destructive power of near-Earth asteroids impacting the Earth is enormous, and the early warning and defense against such asteroids are of great importance for the safety of humanity. However, most near-Earth asteroids are not detected before they impact the Earth due to limited observation capacity, said Zhang.

"The achievement made this time will provide solid scientific support for China's efforts on early warning and defense against near-Earth asteroids," he said.

The Lijiang observatory is located in a low latitude area with an altitude of over 3,200 meters, making it one of the best astronomical observation sites in China for night sky observations.

Zhang said that the research team at the Lijiang observatory formulated an observation plan based on forecast information and the characteristics of the asteroid six hours before its was expected to fall into the Earth.

They adopted the "wait and see" method at the designated position in anticipation of the fast-moving nature of 2024 XA1, and successfully captured precious images within one hour before its falling into the Earth.

Its 2.4-meter telescope is currently the largest general-purpose optical astronomical telescope in East Asia with the capability to track and observe fast-moving targets such as near-Earth asteroids with high precision.