Our solar system consists of millions of asteroids but among them, there are very few that actually have an impact on Earth. Recently a new asteroid has been discovered by scientists that might have an impact on Earth about 23 years from now. According to NASA an asteroid known as 2023 DW is being tracked right now and might collide with Earth on February 14, 2046. This asteroid was first discovered on February 26 according to Emergency Space Agency.
According to researchers this asteroid has about a 50-meter diameter and is currently located about 0.12 astronomical units from Earth. The asteroid is currently moving at a speed of roughly 24.64 km/sec in relation to the Sun. The ESA ( European Space Agency ) has currently stated that this asteroid has a 1 in 607 chance of impacting Earth but still, it has been added to the agency’s Risk list.
Though the impact of this asteroid is still very far away and it is predicted that 2023 DW could collide with Earth on Valentine’s day 2046 NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office claims that the risk of an asteroid impacting the planet remains very small so maybe there is not much to worry about.
BREAKING 🚨: NASA is monitoring an asteroid that could collide with Earth on Valentine's Day in 2046
'a 1 in 400 chance' pic.twitter.com/AplwINwV6t
— Latest in space (@latestinspace) March 9, 2023
From these observations and calculations, the researchers have mentioned that since the possibility of collision is less there won’t be any need for public alarm or attention. Also, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office recently tweeted, ‘ Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future. Orbit analysts will continue to monitor asteroid 2023 DW and update predictions as more data comes in .’
