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LiveScience
LiveScience
Sascha Pare

Asteroid that exploded over Berlin was fastest-spinning space rock ever recorded

Visualization of the trajectory and impact of asteroid 2024 BX1.

An asteroid that tore through the atmosphere over Germany in January was spinning faster than any other near-Earth object ever recorded, new research suggests.

The space rock, dubbed 2024 BX1, turned into a fireball and exploded over Berlin in the early hours of Jan. 21. Although small asteroids on collision courses with Earth are typically detected only when they crash into the atmosphere, scientists spotted this one roughly three hours before impact.

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