Medium sized meteors enter our planet’s atmosphere a few times a year. There is no reason to panic, however, as they are not big enough to create any sort of damage. They usually go by unnoticed or create a celestial display of what we call “fireworks”.

A small asteroid of the aforementioned sort entered the Earth’s atmosphere this morning, over the African continent. Although these asteroids rarely come with a warning, scientists were able to anticipate its arrival. The reduced size of the asteroid prevented it from actually hitting the ground, and it was expected to burn in the sky, offering a spectacular view to anyone watching. The asteroid complied with the prediction.

The rock was hardly visible, as it was small and dark in color. Despite this aspect, the astronomers from the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center still managed to predict the asteroid’s course of action before it entered our atmosphere. It was spotted near the moon. Scientists are sure that a larger and potentially dangerous asteroid could very easily be spotted in time to evacuate the endangered citizens.

The object was seen by a telescope situated in Arizona, on Sunday evening, and astronomers calculated it would head for our planet on Monday and enter our airspace on Tuesday. NASA’s Near Earth Object is a NASA program designed to monitor any object that is in close proximity to our planet. The program identifies almost 5,700 objects yearly, and only 750 of these pose a possible damage threat if they came in contact with our planet. The object in question, however, will merely offer viewers a natural fireworks’ show.