NASA Monitors Asteroid that Could Potentially Collide with Earth in 2046
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released a statement saying that they are tracking an asteroid, approximately the size of an Olympic swimming pool, which has a very slim chance of crashing into our planet. The report said that if the galactic rock actually made its way to earth, it would arrive on Valentine’s Day in the year 2046.
According to CNN, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Sentry system assessed the projected path for the object and determined that the odds of it colliding with Earth are 1 in 560; however, it also calculates the chances of the asteroid crashing into other objects on its flight path. The asteroid was dubbed 2023 DW and is the only object in space that has any remote chance of making its way to our mother earth.
Additionally, while NASA has released that figure to the public, they have also made it known that the odds of the asteroid reaching Earth can change immensely as more investigations are done. The NASA Asteroid Watch indicated that it normally takes several weeks of data to be completely sure and adequately predict the orbit of objects that pose a potential risk in the future. While informing the public, it is not the wish of the observatory to start any widespread panic, as they indicate that it is quite common for objects that are newly found to seem more dangerous to the earth than they really are.
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