Amateur astronomers help track asteroid to French impact site
With help from amateur astronomers, scientists tracked how an asteroid travelled from space, broke up in Earth's atmosphere and sent fiery fragments shooting to the ground, gathering new information about how these space rocks disintegrate. Among those swiftly mobilising were professional and amateur astronomers from France's FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel network, which launched around a decade ago with a mission to detect and collect meteorites -- the fragments of asteroids that make it to the ground.
With help from amateur astronomers, scientists tracked how an asteroid travelled from space, broke up in Earth's atmosphere and sent fiery fragments shooting to the ground, gathering new information about how these space rocks disintegrate. Among those swiftly mobilising were professional and amateur astronomers from France's FRIPON/Vigie-Ciel network, which launched around a decade ago with a mission to detect and collect meteorites -- the fragments of asteroids that make it to the ground.
