NASA identifies a new asteroid that could collide with Earth in 2046

(News Nation) – NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office announced that it is tracking a new asteroid that could hit Earth on Valentine’s Day in the year 2046.

Although NASA said there is a “very small chance” of an impact, orbiter analysts will continue to watch the asteroid named 2023 d.

“Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future,” Asteroid Watch tweeted from NASA.

NASA gave 2023 DW a 1 in 560 chance of hitting Earth on February 14, 2046, and the European Space Agency (ESA) gave it a 1 in 625 chance, finishing first in the European Space Agency “risk list”. for near-earth objects.

“The good news is that there is only a 1 in 500 or so chance it will actually hit Earth. We have absolutely no way of deflecting or blowing up an asteroid with our name on it,” said theoretical physicist and Professor Michio Kaku, Ph.D.

Kaku explained that 2023 DW is a “city wrecker”, capable of defeating Washington, D.C. or London if it were to hit Earth.

Forbes reported That asteroid is the only object currently being tracked by scientists that is on the Turin scale, registered as one on the list — meaning it is expected to pass Earth without an unusual level of danger.

The Torino Scale was created as a tool to inform the public about the risk of a possible asteroid impact, and to classify the likelihood and consequences of a potential impact, according to NASA Center for Near-Earth Object Studies.