C0WEPC5, as the asteroid has been temporarily named, entered Earth's atmosphere at 1:15 a.m. local time on Dec. 4 over Russia's remote Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, in northeastern Siberia. Local officials were placed on alert, the Sakha emergencies ministry noted, but no damage was reported during the event.

People in northern Siberia saw a fireball streak through the sky on Tuesday as a small asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and plummeted toward the planet's crust. Though it's unclear whether pieces of the asteroid impacted solid ground before fully disintegrating,