The fall of asteroid 2024 XA$_1$ and the location of possible meteorites

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2502.09712
• Publication Date: 2025-01-01
• Authors: Gianotto, Francesco; Carbognani, Albino; Fenucci, Marco; Devogèle, Maxime; Ramirez-Moreta, P...; Micheli, Marco; Salerno, Raffaele; Santana-Ros, Toni; Cano, Juan Luis; Conversi, Luca; Drury, Charlie; Faggioli, Laura; Föhring, Dora; Kresken, Reiner; Machnitzky, Selina; Moissl, Richard; Ocaña, Francisco; Oliviero, Dario; Alonso-Peleato, E...; Revellino, Marghe...; Rudawska, Regina
• Keywords: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP); FOS: Physical sciences; Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Astrophysics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics

Accepted for publication on Icarus<br/>Asteroid 2024 XA$_1$ was discovered on 3 December 2024 at 05:54 UTC by the Bok telescope in Kitt Peak, Arizona, and impacted Earth about 10 hours later over a remote area of the Sakha Republic (Russia). The estimated size of the object was about one meter, and the atmospheric entry produced a bright fireball that was captured by a webcam and several eyewitnesses. The first impact alert was issued at 07:50 UTC by the Meerkat Asteroid Guard of the European Space Agency, which triggered subsequent follow-up observations that confirmed both the object to be real and the occurrence of the impact with Earth. Here we present the operations and results from the NEO Coordination Centre (NEOCC) upon the impact event. Because the entry likely dropped meteorites on the ground, we also estimate the possible strewn fields for future meteorite search campaigns.<br/>