The last time an asteroid hit Earth was in 2013.
The year 2020 is full of disasters. In addition to dealing with a pandemic, high tensions in political discourse, and a recession of the likes the world has not seen in over 100 years, an asteroid is coming close to the Earth.
The asteroid in question is called 2018VP1, and this celestial object is due to arrive near Earth on November 2, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CNN reported.
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The asteroid was first identified back in 2018 by the Palomar Observatory in California, and it might not pose a threat to the people of Earth.
“Asteroid 2018VP1 is very small, approximately 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth. If it were to enter our planet’s atmosphere, it would disintegrate due to its extremely small size,” NASA said in a statement.
“NASA has been directed by Congress to discover 90% of the near-Earth asteroids larger than 140 meters (459 feet) in size and reports on asteroids of any size.”
There is a 0.41% chance of the object hitting Earth, CNN reported.
On a scale of 0 to 9, with the latter being nondangerous, experts are saying they give this impending asteroid a 7, CBS News reported. The asteroid reportedly has a diameter of about 6 feet.
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On February 15, 2013, a similar asteroid was spotted approaching Russia’s southern Ural region.
The Chelyabinsk meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded while in space. The force of the explosion and the falling debris caused windows to break when it landed.
Astronomer Mike Murray says that the 2018 VP1 will probably break apart or explode like the Chelyabinsk meteor did.
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