NASA warned that a city-destroying asteroid the size of the Leaning Tower of Pisa could hit Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046.
2023 DW, confirmed Feb. 28, has a one in 560 chance of hitting Feb. 14 at 4:44 pm ET, but where it will fall is still unknown.
The predicted strike zones extend from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and west to the US East Coast – from Los AngelesHawaii and Washington COLUMBIA REGION as opportunities.
The collision of 165-foot 2023 DW with our planet will be comparable to the 12-megaton Tunguska disaster that hit Siberia 114 years ago.
This 160-foot asteroid caused a nuclear explosion that would have destroyed a large metropolis, but it landed in a forest, flattening over 80 million trees.
A city-destroying asteroid the size of the Leaning Tower of Pisa could hit Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046. impact zone
NASA announced the discovery of 2023 DW on Tuesday, noting that “several weeks of data are needed to reduce uncertainty and adequately predict their orbits for years to come.”
The probability of an asteroid colliding with Earth has changed over the past week.
On March 1, an Italian astronomer shared by NASA showed a one in 12,000 chance, but a day later the chance increased to one in 710 – and now there is one in 560.
As of March 7, 2023, analysis of its orbit totaled only 62 observations over the 6.8487 days until March 4, 2023.
2023 DW is currently at the top of NASA’s risk list with 1 on the Turin Scale, which means there is no public concern at this time.
“A routine discovery suggesting that a passage near Earth does not pose an unusual level of danger,” the Turin scale description reads.
“Current calculations show that the likelihood of a collision is extremely unlikely and does not cause public attention or public concern. New telescopic observations will likely result in a reassignment to level 0.”
“Orbit Analysts will continue to monitor Asteroid 2023 DW and update forecasts as new data becomes available,” NASA tweeted.
NASA confirmed 2023 DW on February 28th. The picture shows the first image of an asteroid in space.
While the 2023 DW is at level 1, it could reach 10 marked “Certain Collisions”.
“An imminent collision capable of causing a global climate catastrophe that could threaten the future of civilization as we know it, whether land or ocean,” the description reads.
“Such events occur on average once every 100,000 years or less.”
However, NASA notes that it will alert the public if the 2023 DW reaches 3 on the scale.
The last significant collision took place on February 15, 2013, known as Chelyabinsk.
A 60-foot-wide meteor slammed into the Earth’s atmosphere with the energy equivalent of 500,000 tons of TNT, sending a shock wave around the globe twice.
This caused significant damage and injured more than 1,600 people.
And 2023 DW is more than double that.
NASA recently confirmed that it could deflect a killer asteroid from its path to Earth following a successful DART mission in 2021.
The last significant collision took place on February 15, 2013, known as Chelyabinsk. Pictured is the moment a 60-foot meteor streaked across the sky over Russia.
NASA has confirmed that it has successfully deflected an asteroid in space. The picture shows the moment when the ship crashed into an asteroid during the NASA DART mission.
The agency launched the Dual Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) in 2022 for humanity’s first planetary defense mission, which NASA has called “Armageddon Moment.”
The ship’s target was a satellite called Dimorphos orbiting its parent asteroid Didyma.
On September 26, the entire world watched as DART flew at 15,000 miles per hour towards Dimorphos to push it out of orbit.
And on March 1, 2023, NASA confirmed that the mission had been a resounding success.
The space agency’s refrigerator-sized satellite managed to shorten the orbit of the 520-foot-wide asteroid by 33 minutes—nearly five times longer than predicted.
Scientists at Northern Arizona University said: “Serving as a proof of concept for the kinetic impact planetary defense method, DART was to demonstrate that an asteroid could be targeted during a high speed impact and that the target’s orbit could be changed. changed.’