The ancient Sumerian astronomer is believed to have carried out trigonometrical measurements detailing the object's flight path in the sky as well as the probable impact site.

Around 3,000 BC, an ancient Sumerian astronomer was observing the sky as he usually would. While he was making observations, he wrote down the planet’s position and other astronomical data on a clay tablet, a star map. But this time, the sky was different. He noticed that there was something in the sky that wasn’t there before. It was bright, and it was moving.

A 5,100-year-old clay tablet discovered in the 19th century in the underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh is an astronomical treasure. The ancient “document” excavated in present-day Iraq by Sir Henry Layard offers unprecedented insight into astronomical observations that took place more than 5,100 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia.

The object is held at the British Museum and cataloged as artifact No. K8538, and it is an ancient star map. The artifact was translated over ten years ago with computer software that helped scientists simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago. This allowed experts to understand its significance and reveal a message written by ancient skygazers.

The clay tablet is a copy of a set of notes inscribed by an ancient Sumerian astronomer who witnessed the approach of a massive asteroid. The Sumerian astronomer referred to the cosmic body as “a white stone bowl approaching from the sky…”

The translated clay tablet tells how an ancient Sumerian astronomer observed on 29 June 3123 BC a massive asteroid approaching Earth. It smashed through our planet’s atmosphere and made its way to the surface.