{"id":172368,"date":"2025-09-25T19:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/two-years-ago-an-asteroid-exploded-over-france-with-remarkable-intensity-what-saved-the-french-people-was-their-size\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T19:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:04:10","slug":"two-years-ago-an-asteroid-exploded-over-france-with-remarkable-intensity-what-saved-the-french-people-was-their-size","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/two-years-ago-an-asteroid-exploded-over-france-with-remarkable-intensity-what-saved-the-french-people-was-their-size\/","title":{"rendered":"Two years ago, an asteroid exploded over France with remarkable intensity. What saved the French people was their size."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

February 13, 2023<\/strong>. It was 4:59 in the morning when a violent explosion illuminated the skies of Normandy<\/a>, located in northern France. This event marked the end of a journey spanning millions of kilometers for a small asteroid known as 2023 CX1.<\/p>\n

Seven hours of notice<\/strong> were all scientists had when they detected the 650-kilogram rock, which measured barely a meter in diameter. The situation was alarming not only because of the asteroid\u2019s unexpected arrival but also due to its unique behavior upon entering the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

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An exhaustive analysis<\/strong> published two and a half years later in Nature Astronomy<\/a> revealed that, had the asteroid been larger, the consequences of its extraordinary explosion could have been catastrophic.<\/p>\n

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A high-risk meteor<\/strong>. While most meteorites fragment upon descending through the atmosphere, 2023 CX1 managed to remain intact until it reached an altitude of merely 28 kilometers from the surface. At this critical point, the atmospheric pressure caused the asteroid to explode violently.<\/p>\n

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Traveling through space for approximately 30 million years<\/strong>, the asteroid released a staggering 98% of its \u00a0kinetic energy\u00a0 in just a fraction of a second. The explosion occurred in a concentrated region of the atmosphere when it reached a dynamic pressure of 4 megapascals.<\/p>\n

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It does not compare with Chelyabinsk<\/strong>. The behavior of 2023 CX1 starkly contrasted that of the Chelyabinsk meteor, which exploded in Russia in 2013, releasing energy equivalent to 500 kilotons. The latter event caused widespread destruction, shattering windows and injuring hundreds. However, the explosion in France produced a spherical shock wave rather than a cylindrical one, concentrating much more energy and significantly enlarging the area of soil affected by overpressure.<\/p>\n

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Researchers indicated that this abrupt fragmentation could potentially inflict greater damage than the progressive fragmentation seen in similar-sized bodies. Fortunately for the French, the asteroid’s small size mitigated the risks involved.<\/p>\n

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More fuel for planetary defense<\/strong>. The analysis was founded on an unprecedented volume of observations mobilized by both the scientific community and citizen scientists within those critical seven hours. The prediction of the asteroid’s fall by ESA and NASA had a margin of error of less than 20 meters from the anticipated trajectory, facilitating the recovery of over one hundred fragments<\/a> of the meteorite in Saint-Pierre-Le Viger.<\/p>\n

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According to the CSIC<\/a>, which participated in the investigation, this event confirms the existence of a new population of asteroids labeled as L chondrites, which are capable of such violent explosions. “These asteroids must be carefully considered in planetary defense strategies, as they pose a heightened risk to populated areas,” stated Auriane Egal, the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n

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Given our current understanding, authorities may initiate evacuation plans the next time an asteroid of this nature threatens Earth, contingent upon the effectiveness of detection systems to identify hazards in a timely manner.<\/p>\n

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Image: THAT<\/p>\n

In Xataka | Tunguska: the explosion of 12 megatons that reminds us that space is full of wonders but also horrors.<\/p>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 13, 2023. It was 4:59 in the morning when a violent explosion illuminated the skies of Normandy, located in northern France. This event marked the end of a journey spanning millions of kilometers for a small asteroid known as 2023 CX1. Seven hours of notice were all scientists had when they detected the 650-kilogram […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36399],"tags":[7700,2842,1309,3543,6331,438,19680,1928,5672,45],"class_list":["post-172368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-asteroid","tag-exploded","tag-france","tag-french","tag-intensity","tag-people","tag-remarkable","tag-saved","tag-size","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}