NASA officials have advised that the odds of impact could change significantly as more observations of the asteroid are collected and further analysis is carried out….reports Asian Lite News
NASA’s Planetary Defence Coordination Office has announced that a newly discovered asteroid, known as 2023 DW and roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool, has a “small chance” of colliding with Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046.
While projections by the European Space Agency suggest the asteroid has a 1 in 625 chance of impact, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Sentry system has calculated the odds closer to 1 in 560.
However, despite topping NASA’s risk list with a ranking of 1 on the Torino Impact Hazard Scale, the chance of a collision is still extremely unlikely, with no cause for public concern, according to Davide Farnocchia, a navigation engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA officials have advised that the odds of impact could change significantly as more observations of the asteroid are collected and further analysis is carried out.