NASA says an asteroid will pass by Earth on November 2 – just a day before US election
NASA has said that asteroid 2018VP1 is very small and "poses no threat to Earth"
New York, August 24: NASA has predicted that a small asteroid is heading towards the Earth. The celestial object known as 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on November 2 and has a 0.41 percent chances of hitting the planet.NASA scientists have said that the asteroid 2018VP1 with a diameter of 0.002 km (about 6.5 feet) will pass near Earth just a day before the US election 2020, CNN reported. The asteroid was first identified in 2018 at Palomar Observatory in California.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has said that asteroid 2018VP1 is very small and “poses no threat to Earth”. Even if it hits the Earth’s surface, the asteroid will disintegrate due to its small size, it said.
Earlier in August, NASA had spotted a tiny asteroid pass a few thousand kilometres above Earth. The asteroid, which is as big as an SUV, was the closest ever to have passed by Earth.
NASA said that the asteroid named 2020 QG passed above the southern Indian Ocean on August 16 at 12:08 am EDT (9.30 am IST). Asteroid 2020 QG is fairly small by asteroid standards.
If it had actually been on an impact trajectory, it would likely have become a fireball as it broke up in Earth’s atmosphere, which happens several times a year.
The space research organisation states that there are hundreds of millions of small asteroids the size of 2020 QG, but they are extremely hard to discover until they get very close to Earth. The vast majority of Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) pass by safely at much greater distances – usually much farther away than the Moon.
