Scientists: Mile-long asteroid could be dangerous to life on Earth in millions of years if it breaks up

The fire ball that passed over Japan in 2017 is linked to a mile-long asteroid. Scientists now believe that the asteroid, known as 2003 YT1 could break up and harm life on Earth.

There were reports of at least five fireballs over the U.S. last week. 

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In a Facebook post, NASA Meteor Watch wrote Saturday that there had been “many reports” of the fireballs hurtling through the sky on Friday night. 

The largest amount of eyewitness accounts totaled over 80 associated with an event that occurred at 7:40 p.m. ET over the North Carolina coast.

“An analysis of these accounts shows that the meteor skimmed the coast of North Carolina, becoming visible 48 miles above the ocean off Camp Lejeune, moving northeast at 32,000 miles per hour. It disintegrated 28 miles above Morehead City, after traveling 26 miles through Earth’s upper atmosphere,” NASA wrote. 

However, the agency noted that there is more than the usual amount of uncertainty in the “trajectory solution” due to all observers being located west of the fireball.

The American Meteor Society says it received 151 reports about a fireball seen over Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia on the same night.

The video provided to the American Meteor Society
(Credit: © Brandon Warren)

NASA also linked to a video of the event provided to the organization which now has more than 318,000 views.

Witnesses see fireballs much more rarely in daylight than at night and the objects don’t typically stay intact while passing through the Earth’s atmosphere.

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