Small asteroid impact today over the ocean near Australia

Small asteroid impact today near Australia

The Mount Lemmon Observatory survey has spotted a new asteroid, less than 1 meter across (less than 3 feet across) that’s headed for Earth. The impact should happen in Earth’s atmosphere near northwest Australia around 16 to 16:30 UTC (11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. CDT). At that time near Australia the skies should be dark, so people in the area could see a bright flash of the incoming meteor.

At the moment, the asteroid has the name CERNQ52.

Richard Moissl, the Head of Planetary Defense for ESA, wrote on social media:

INCOMING! 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.

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.

Report the meteor if you see it

If you live in the area and see the bright flash of the meteor from the asteroid impact, you can report it with the International Meteor Organization. And if you capture an image of it, share it with us at EarthSky Community Photos!

? ASTEROID ATMOSPHERIC ENTRY ALERT ?A freshly discovered (08h45min UT, Sept. 6) small (~0,8 m diameter) asteroid (CERNQ52) is in a trajectory that will direct it into the Earth atmosphere, over Indian ocean today (Sept. 6) around 16h 35min UT. Stay tuned for more updates!

— International Meteor Organization (@imometeors.bsky.social) 2026-09-06T10:45:09.571Z

Bottom line: A small asteroid impact will occur in the next few hours near northwest Australia. The meteor should harmlessly burn up in Earth’s atmosphere and poses no danger.

Read more: How big are asteroids? Compare sizes in this video