This asteroid has a 1-in-400 chance to hit Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046: it’s now no. 1 on NASA’s risk list

Highlights

• A newly discovered asteroid poses a threat to hit Earth on Valentine’s Day 23 years from now.
• The 2023 DW asteroid has a 50-meter diameter, roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool sits on the No. 1 spot on the European Space Agency’s Risk List. 
• The ESA predicts that the asteroid has a 1-in-607 chance of hitting Earth, which is pretty great. 

While millions of asteroids are in our solar system, a small fraction is known to impact Earth potentially. However, scientists found a new one that could pose one of the most significant risks of them all.

First discovered on February 26th, the asteroid, known as 2023 DW, has a 50-meter diameter, roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool has a “small chance” of clashing with Earth on Valentine’s Day 23 years from now, according to the European Space Agency.

The newly discovered asteroid now sits on the No. 1 spot on the agency’s Risk List, a catalog of space objects that could potentially impact Earth. However, you shouldn’t pack your bags, onboard a spaceship, and settle on Moon.

Will an asteroid hit Earth in 2046?

2023 DW ranks No. 1 on the Torino Scale, meaning it currently poses no unusual level of danger per the scale. Meanwhile, the other 1,448 asteroids on the Risk List have a scale ranking of 0.

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Agency has been tracking the asteroid for a while now and states that the likelihood of it hitting Earth in 2046 is still very low. And the ESA predicts that the asteroid has a 1-in-607 chance of hitting Earth.

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

There’s nothing to worry about this asteroid, as it doesn’t threaten your Valentine’s day plans for 23 years from now. Since NASA is actively monitoring the space body, expect to hear more predictions of the 2023 DW asteroid in the future.

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