LIVE as newly discovered asteroid set to explode over English Channel in historic first

In what is an historic first, a newly discovered asteroid is set explode over the English Channel at around 3am this Morning (Monday, February 13).

The small 1m asteroid, currently designated as Sar2667, will create a shooting star and an 'airburst' when it explodes after entering a Earth's atmosphere.

American Physicist and airburst specialist Mark Boslough from the Los Alamos National Laboratory told Wales Online that while "airbursts of this size happen somewhere several times per year" they are "rarely discovered in advance."

In fact, he said this was only the seventh time in history one had been discovered advance. And he said it was the first time in history this had happened "over a populated area with enough warning to get data".

Mark Boslough is a research professor at University of New Mexico, fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and chair of the Asteroid Day Expert Panel. He is an expert in the study of planetary impacts and global catastrophes.

Scroll down for updates as we get them.