The European Space Agency said that a small meteorite, approximately one meter long, is expected to safely hit the Earth’s atmosphere over northern France at EST Sunday evening.
The meteor, named Sar2667, will enter the atmosphere over Rouen, France, and should be visible in Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France and southern England, according to the International Meteor Organization.
This is only the seventh time that astronomers have observed an asteroid before it collides with Earth, a trend that the European Space Agency attributes to “rapid progress in global asteroid detection capabilities,” according to ESA.Fox News.
Small meteorites like Sar2667 hit Earth about every two weeks, but they don’t pose a major threat to the planet.
Astronomers currently know of more than 1.1 million asteroids, about 30,600 of which are classified as near-Earth asteroids, according to the European Space Agency.
NASA, the European Space Agency and other organizations around the world are working to bolster their planetary defense capabilities in the event that an Earth-destroying asteroid reaches a fearful trajectory.
And last year, NASA’s Dart spacecraft moved the asteroid Dimorphos in an experiment with its kinetic impact technique on asteroids that could come perilously close to Earth.