A newly discovered asteroid could come dangerously close to Earth about 20 years from now, giving us about a 1 in 600 chance that space rocks could hit our planet directly. said the official. NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office tweeted(opens in new tab).
That’s a higher-than-average risk level for near-Earth asteroids, but it’s still a “very small chance” of a collision, NASA wrote.
An asteroid called 2023 DW, first detected on February 27, is estimated to be about 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter, or roughly the length of an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The asteroid is expected to come very close to Earth on February 14, 2046. As of March 8, European Space Agency Near-Earth Object Coordination Center(opens in new tab) predicts a 1 in 625 chance of a direct impact, but the odds are recalculated daily.
“When a new object is first discovered, weeks of data are often required to reduce uncertainty and properly predict its trajectory years into the future,” NASA tweeted. “Orbital analysts will continue to monitor asteroid 2023 DW and will update forecasts as more data comes in.”
A direct impact from such rocks would not be a cataclysm like the dinosaur-killing asteroid about 7.5 miles (12 kilometers) wide that hit Earth 66 million years ago. However, the 2023 DW can still cause serious damage if it lands near large cities or densely populated areas. In 2013, a meteor less than half the size of his 2023 DW exploded in Chelyabinsk, Russia, creating a shock wave that damaged thousands of buildings and injured about 1,500 people.
Although the 2023 DW will have little impact, scientists are rapidly developing ways to protect our planet from such potentially dangerous asteroids. Last week, a NASA scientist published four of his studies confirming that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was successful in altering the orbit of a small asteroid after a direct collision with the spacecraft. Announced. A follow-up mission is currently underway to further enhance the effectiveness of this planetary defense technology.
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