NASA’s Office of Planetary Defense is tracking a new asteroid that has “a very slim chance of hitting Earth” 23 years from now, on Valentine’s Day 2046.
The asteroid, named “2023 DW”, is 50 meters in diameter, about the size of an Olympic swimming pool, and has a 625 chance of hitting Earth, according to the European Space Agency.
Although the space rock currently tops NASA’s hazard list, it only scores 1 out of 10 on the Turin scale, meaning “the likelihood of a collision is extremely unlikely, with no cause for public attention or concern.”
As astronomers learn more about this asteroid, concerns around it could be reduced significantly.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Office explains that “Often, when new objects are discovered, several weeks of data are needed to reduce uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits in future years.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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