{"id":883028,"date":"2026-09-07T08:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883028\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T08:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T08:18:13","slug":"asteroid-impacts-earth-between-wa-and-bali-as-nasa-celebrates-test-of-our-planetary-defense-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/883028\/","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid impacts Earth between WA and Bali as NASA celebrates test of \u2018our planetary defense capabilities\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Dinosaurs didn\u2019t see the asteroid coming that ended their 180-million year reign on the Earth, but humans had more luck spotting an asteroid ahead of its impact over the Indian Ocean between WA and Bali on Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">T-Rex and co. were done in by a monster asteroid measuring up to 15 kilometres wide, producing an extinction-level event when it impacted the Earth near Mexico at a site now known as the Chicxulub crater.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">In comparison, the space object designated CERNQ52 was roughly the size of a washing machine and likely disintegrated when it hit the atmosphere just after midnight on Monday, and was subsequently incinerated before reaching the surface.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">According to NASA, the object was first reported to the Minor Planet Center by the Catalina Sky Survey, with earlier detections by Pan-STARRS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies calculated its trajectory and impact location, all facilities that receive funding by NASA\u2019s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">It was just the 13th time a small impactor had been spotted prior to hitting the Earth.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fbf81b7c110baca9c62551d1352ef9a472a01da7.jpg\" alt=\"The small asteroid designated CERNQ52 was detected prior to its impact above the Indian Ocean between WA and Bali.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconThe small asteroid designated CERNQ52 was detected prior to its impact above the Indian Ocean between WA and Bali. Credit: ESA<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">NASA set up the Planetary Defense Coordination Office in 2016 to improve the response to an asteroid impact, after decades spent tracking the trajectory of space objects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">As for what the plan is if an impact is imminent, NASA successfully conducted the Double Asteroid Redirection Test in 2022, which involved changing an asteroid\u2019s motion in space through kinetic impact.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7771eca45ef264f01fbade2ec43b991a3776a535.jpg\" alt=\"In this image made from a NASA livestream, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft crashes into an asteroid on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. (ASI\/NASA via AP)\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\"\/>Camera IconIn this image made from a NASA livestream, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft crashes into an asteroid on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022. (ASI\/NASA via AP) Credit: AP<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">For those who came in late, \u201ckinetic impact\u201d meant smashing a spacecraft into an asteroid (an incredible scientific feat on its own) at about 22,000kph.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1ix6vwn-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Responding to the latest asteroid detection on social media, NASA said, \u201cWhile not a hazard, scenarios like this provide an invaluable test of our planetary defense capabilities to monitor for larger objects and predict impact threats\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dinosaurs didn\u2019t see the asteroid coming that ended their 180-million year reign on the Earth, but humans had&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,128,285,105],"class_list":["post-883028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-space","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}