We are getting better at discovering small asteroids and predicting where they are going to hit our planet. For the first time this year, four asteroids were successfully found and their orbit and predicted ahead of their collision with our planet. The fourth one was predicted and flew over Russia just yesterday, disintegrating into a fireball over the skies of the republic of Sakha in northeastern Siberia.

The objects were all tiny, about 1 meter (3 feet) across. Yesterday’s object, now dubbed 2024 XA1, might have been only 70 centimeters (27 inches) in diameter. A previously predicted impactor holds the record for the smallest known asteroid, but 2024 XA1 is still pretty small. Its jaunt (and destruction) through the atmosphere caused no known damage or injury but gave a pretty spectacle to the people of Eastern Siberia, who braved the cold in the early hours of the morning to observe it.

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The asteroid was discovered by the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The first observation, according to the Minor Planet Electronic Circulars, was about 12 hours before the actual impact. This is the second longest lead-up time for an asteroid impact. The longest still belongs to the first asteroid ever predicted to impact our planet, 2008 TC3 which was four meters across, a significantly bigger object. It was discovered around 20 hours before it burned up over the Nubian desert on October 7, 2008.

All the predicted asteroids have fortunately been harmless, but the ability to spot them and predict them tells us that we are getting better at this planetary protection business. Hopefully, we will soon predict every single body that flies into Earth, especially those that can be damaging or dangerous. The most catastrophic ones in the neighborhood are all accounted for, but there are smaller objects that could still be devasting on a lower scale. A lead-up of 12 hours like that of 2024 XA1 could save countless lives.

There is another scientific reason that makes the prediction important: It is possible that these small asteroids leave behind meteorites. Two of them this year burned up over water, one exploded over the Philippines in September, and the other one burned over the Pacific in October. But In January, a bright fireball burned over Berlin and left behind extremely rare meteorites. Even a small space rock such as 2024 AX1 might leave something priceless to scientists behind.