Asteroid COWEPC5 to impact Earth over Russia on December 3
A newly-discovered asteroid currently designated COWEPC5 is expected to impact Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia, Russia at around 16:15 UTC (08:15 PST) on December 3, 2024. This is the 11th predicted Earth impactor on record – and the 4th so far this year.
Image credit: The Watchers
An asteroid discovered just several hours ago is expected to impact Earth’s atmosphere over Siberia, Russia at around 16:15 UTC (+/- 5 minutes) today.
The size of this asteroid is estimated to be about 70 cm (2.3 feet), making it a harmless object, with most of it expected to burn out in the atmosphere as a very bright fireball.
The object was discovered at Kitt Peaks National Observatory, Arizona at 05:55 UTC — some 10 hours before the impact.
The following webcam images show the asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere as seen from the city of Lensk, Russia at 01:15 LT, December 4 (16:15 UTC, December 3):
Videos from the same two webcams showing the asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere:
This is the 11th predicted Earth impactor on record and the 4th so far this year, marking a new record for our civilization.
You can find them all, including links with more information about each of them and videos in the table below.
Predicted Earth impactors
Updated at 11:44 UTC on September 7, 2026| Object / Type | Discovery date (UTC) | Impact date (UTC) | Impact location | Dimensions (~) | Energy released (kt) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 TC3 (Apollo) | October 6, 2008 at 06:39 | October 7, 2008 at 02:46 | Nubian desert, Sudan | 4 m (13.1 feet) | 0.781 | 600 meteorites found. Total weight 11 kg. |
| 2014 AA (Apollo) | January 1, 2014 at 06:18 | January 2, 2014 at 03:06 | Atlantic Ocean | 3 m (9.8 feet) | 0.282 | Impact velocity 11.77 km/s |
| 2018 LA (Apollo) | June 2, 2018 at 08:22 | June 2, 2018 at 16:44 | Botswana/South Africa | 3 m (9.8 feet) | 1.03 | At least 24 meteorites found. Ejected by asteroid Vesta. Howardite-Eucrite-Diogenite (HED) type material |
| 2019 MO (Apollo) | June 22, 2019 at 07:24 | June 22, 2019 at 21:25 | Puerto Rico | 5 m (16.4 feet) | 4.46 | Possibly Alinda asteroid. NEXRAD weather radar detected falling meteorites over water. |
| 2022 EB5 (Apollo) | March 11, 2022 at 19:24 | March 11, 2022 at 21:22 | Jan Mayen Island, Norway | 1 m (6.4 feet) | 0.398 | Impact velocity 18.55 km/s |
| 2022 WJ1 (Apollo) | November 19, 2022 at 04:53 | November 19, 2022 at 08:27 | Ontario, Canada | 1 m (3.2 feet) | 0.0106 | Most meteorites fell in water. |
| 2023 CX1 (Apollo) | February 12, 2023 at 20:18 | February 13, 2023 at 02:59 | Normandy, France | 1 m (3.2 feet) | 0.0403 | Over 22 meteorites. |
| 2024 BX1 (Apollo) | January 20, 2024 at 20:48 | January 21, 2024 at 00:33 | Berlin, Germany | 0.7 - 1.6 m (2.23 - 5.2 feet) / ~140 kg | 0.0405 | About 200 meteorites. Total weight 1.8 kg. |
| 2024 RW1 (Apollo) | September 4, 2024 at 05:43 | September 4, 2024 at 16:39 | Luzon, Philippines | 1.1 - 2.4 m (3.6 – 7.9 feet) | 0.187 | Impact velocity 20.16 km/s |
| 2024 UQ | October 22, 2024 | October 22, 2024 at 10:54 | Eastern Pacific Ocean | 1 m (3.2 feet) | 0.0782 | Impact velocity 23.43 km/s |
| 2024 XA1 | December 3, 2024 at 05:55 | December 3, 2024 at 16:15 | Siberia, Russia | 70 cm (2.3 feet) | 0.0316 | Impact velocity 15.52 km/s |
| 2026 JN4 | May 15, 2026 at 08:08 | May 15, 2026 at 13:44 | Arafura Sea region | 0.65 - 1.4 m (2.1 - 4.5 feet) | 0.0156 | Impact velocity 17.34 km/s |
| 2026 RW1 | September 5, 2026 at 08:45 | September 6, 2026 at 16:39 UTC | Indian Ocean, between Indonesia and Australia | 1 - 2.3 m (3.2 - 7.5 feet) | - | - |
If you took pictures or videos of today’s event, we’d love you to share them with us. You can reach out using the contact form or post links in the comments. Thanks!
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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