Video of October 6 asteroid 2008 TC3

A small asteroid discovered earlier October 6 entered Earth's atmosphere later that night. Friction with the air caused the object to explode with roughly a kiloton of energy, creating a spectacular fireball as it disintegrated. The object, designated 2008 TC3, was only 3 to 15 feet (1 to 5 meters) across and posed no threat to reach Earth's surface or the altitude of airplanes.
By | Published: October 7, 2008 | Last updated on May 18, 2023

On October 7, the husband and wife observing team of Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre forwarded to Astronomy an image and an animation of the asteroid 2008 TC3 they received from amateur astronomer friends in Italy. Imelda runs an image service company and is a contributor to Astronomy magazine.

The International Astronomical Union named asteroid 6282 “Edwelda” after Imelda and Edwin.

“Here’s a sequence of photos and animation of 2008 TC3 taken by our astronomer friends in Italy,” Imelda writes. “They’re among the first (if not the first) amateur images of the object.”

See the image sequence at Astronomy.com’s blog post, “First images of asteroid 2008 TC3.”

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