zlacker

>>Brajes+(OP)
"but this one was unique because it was first detected by scientists roughly three hours before impact — only the eighth time that researchers have spotted one of these space rocks before it hit."

Maybe I did not read close enough but how is it "first"?

>>tocs3+QV
The word "first" in that sentence means the first detection of this asteroid, not that it was the first asteroid detected in the same way.

>>terafl+cX
then what imparts the "unique" characteristic?

>>s1arti+Ds1
I think "unique" is being used in the figurative sense of "very unusual".