A freshly discovered asteroid measuring roughly one meter across is on a direct trajectory to enter Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia. Discovered on September 6, 2026, the harmless space rock is expected to burn up and create a bright meteor flash.
A newly spotted asteroid designated as CERNQ52 is heading toward an atmospheric entry over the ocean near northwest Australia. The Mount Lemmon Observatory first identified the object on September 6, 2026, through the Catalina Sky Survey. Experts said a small asteroid impact will happen over the Indian Ocean near Australia today, September 6, 2026, at 16:07 UTC. The object should harmlessly impact Earth’s atmosphere near northwest Australia and create a bright meteor. At that time near Australia the skies should be dark, so people in the area could see a bright flash of the incoming meteor. This is the 13th time we’ve discovered an asteroid before impact.
Richard Moissl, the Head of Planetary Defense for the European Space Agency, outlined the expected timeline on social media as calculations came together.
“Our systems have calculated an atmospheric entry in the timeframe between 16:00-16:30 UTC of a harmless object discovered by Mt Lemmon survey with a diameter of ~0.8 m northwest of Australia over the ocean. The impact will likely cause a bright meteor.”
Richard Moissl, Head of Planetary Defense for ESA, via EarthSky
Orbital Classification and Previous Impactor Statistics
Adrien Coffinet, a member of the Minor Planet Mailing List, wrote: If I’m not wrong, this will be the first Aten asteroid (a < 1 AU) detected in space before impact. All the previous impactors detected in space before impact were Apollo asteroids (a > 1 AU). Aten asteroids are those that have an orbit inside Earth’s, so under 1 astronomical unit (AU). Apollo asteroids are those that are farther from the sun than Earth on average.
This occurrence represents the 13th time scientists have detected an asteroid before it enters Earth’s atmosphere. While the object measures approximately 0.8 to 1 meter across and poses no danger, scenarios like this during the project were an invaluable test of our planetary defense capabilities to monitor for larger objects and predict significant impact threats.
Observing the Fireball Over the Indian Ocean
The entry window falls around 16h 35min UT on September 6, 2026, with an atmospheric entry alert noting a freshly discovered small asteroid in a trajectory that will direct it into the Earth atmosphere, over Indian ocean today around 16h 35min UT. Because skies in the target region northwest of Australia will be dark at that hour, observers positioned along the path may witness a wide, illuminating light and a bright meteor flash as the rock ablates in the upper atmosphere.
Organizations monitoring the event encourage residents in the region who witness the flash to report it with the International Meteor Organization. Observers who capture an image of it are also invited to share it with EarthSky Community Photos.
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