According to NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Agency, a newly discovered asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool has a “small possibility” of crashing with Earth in 23 years, with a potential impact on Valentine’s Day in 2046.
The asteroid has a 1 in 625 chance of reaching Earth, however, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Sentry system projected the odds to be closer to 1 in 560. The latter monitors possible collisions with heavenly objects.
Asteroid 2023 DW
Nonetheless, the space rock, named 2023 DW, is the only object on NASA’s risk list to receive a score of one out of ten on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, a metric used to assess the likelihood of an object colliding with Earth. On the Torino scale, all other objects are a 0.
According to NASA, the asteroid has a diameter of around 160 feet, which is about the size of an Olympic swimming pool or the breadth of a football field. According to the ESA, it was spotted on February 26 at an observatory in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.
The asteroids will make their closest approach to Earth on February 14, 2046. According to NASA data, the asteroid could impact Earth on that date, but it would most likely miss us by more than 1.1 million miles.
The asteroids will make their closest approach to Earth on February 14, 2046. According to NASA data, the asteroid could impact Earth on that date, but it would most likely miss us by more than 1.1 million miles.
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What Could Happen In 2046?
The asteroid is large enough to be included on NASA’s Earth impact monitoring list as well as the ESA’s risk list.
According to NASA, an asteroid larger than 82 feet but less than 3,280 feet in size would “likely cause local damage to the impact area.”
Nonetheless, the asteroid is classified as a level 1 threat on the Torino Scale. The scale is a measure used by NASA to categorize probable Earth impacts, with zero representing no threat and ten being something that could bring worldwide disaster. The Torino Scale value of one indicates that 2023 DW is in the typical, or green, zone.
Although 2023 DW does not pose a significant threat to Earth, NASA is nonetheless working to protect the globe from any asteroid that could wreak devastation.
NASA crashed its Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART, with an asteroid in September to investigate if it might alter the space rock’s trajectory. NASA later acknowledged that the mission was a success and that it is still researching how effective the strategy is in the event that a huge asteroid heads our way.
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