NASA tracking asteroid that may hit Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046

 Valentine’s day this year may not have gone all that great for you, but if it’s any consolation, there is a chance that it would have been much better than what could happen on Valentine’s day in about 23 years. NASA announced that it is currently tracking an asteroid called 2023 DW, that poses a small threat of crashing into our planet on February 14, 2046. 

Image credit: NASA Asteroid Watch, Twitter

What is the asteroid 2023 DW? 

According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch, 2023 DW is an asteroid that has an estimated diameter of about 49.29 metres and, at the time of writing, is at a distance of about 0.12 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. 

An astronomical unit is the average distance between the centre of the Earth and the centre of the Sun. Relative to the Sun, the asteroid is travelling at the speed of about 24.64 kilometres per second. 

2023 DW takes about 271 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. At its perihelion, or closest point to the Sun, it could come within 0.49 AU of the star at the centre of our planetary system. 

Of course, these figures could change based on more observations of the near-Earth object. 

Will the asteroid 2023 DW strike Earth?

Currently, all that can be said is that we can’t really be sure even though the chances are “extremely unlikely.” 

To quote NASA Asteroid Watch’s Twitter account, “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.” At the time of writing, the asteroid 2023 DW is at the top of the European Space Agency’s “Risk List,” which catalogues all objects that make a close approach to Earth and pose the highest risk of impact. 

According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the asteroid currently registers at level 1 on the Torino scale, which means that it is “a routine discovery in which a pass near the Earth is predicted that poses no unusual level of danger.” Current calculations show the chance of collision is extremely unlikely with no cause for public attention or public concern. 

We've been tracking a new asteroid named 2023 DW that has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2046. 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. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/SaLC0AUSdP

— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) March 7, 2023

Based on current calculations, the chances of collision are extremely unlikely, and therefore, there should be no cause for public attention or public concern. Also, there is a good chance that new telescopic observations will let scientists reassign it as a level 0 threat. So yes, the chances of the asteroid actually crashing into Earth are pretty low at this point.

Read More