This asteroid has a one in 607 chance of destroying your Valentine’s Day 2046

NASA maintains that the risk of the new asteroid — named 2023 DW and estimated to have a diameter of 50 meters — ruining a lovers’ party in 2046 is still minuscule at 1 in 607. The object that poses the second highest risk, 2001 VB, has only a 1 in 3.34 chance. million to influence. 2023 DW was added just ten days ago to the European Space Agency’s “risk list” of objects that might strike Earth in the future, and is therefore at the top of the list.

2023 DW, which is hurtling toward Earth at 15.30 miles per second, is also the only asteroid on the entire list with a Torino magnitude of 1, the scale that measures the probability of hitting Earth. This means that there is no “extraordinary level of danger”. Current calculations show that the possibility of impact is very unlikely, and there is no cause for concern among the general public. New telescopic observations will likely lead to a re-evaluation to Level 0.”

All of the other 1,448 items on the risk list already have a score of 0, which means “the probability of a collision is zero or virtually non-existent”. FYI, the highest score is 10 and means “a hardening collision could cause a global climate catastrophe that could threaten the future of civilization as we know it.”

According to NASA, there is no cause for danger. “We are tracking a new asteroid called 2023 DW that has a very small chance of hitting Earth in 2046,” the organization said on Twitter. When new organisms are first discovered, it often takes several weeks to remove uncertainties and predict their future trajectory. We will continue to monitor DW 2023 and continually update our forecasts.”

Anyone who wants to follow DW 2023 on its journey to Earth in the coming years can visit it NASA’s Eyes on Asteroids website.