Nina Droff 07:40, March 19, 2023

NASA is issuing a warning, after detecting a potential encounter between an asteroid and Earth. According to the agency, the object is expected to approach, or even collide with our planet, in February 2046. Do not panic, however, the adjustment of the calculations makes it possible to gradually move away the idea of a possible impact.

This is an unusual warning issued by NASA. According to the agency's calculations, an asteroid named "2023 DW", should approach Earth very significantly in February 2046, or even hit it. As fate would have it, this "meeting" should take place on February 14 of that year.

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Trajectory error?

At the moment, this asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool is currently circulating in space at a speed of 89,000 km/h. The European Space Agency (ESA) has ranked it at the top of the list of objects with dangerous potential. A ranking that should nevertheless evolve, say the scientists.

"When new objects are discovered, the error on the trajectory is quite important. And as time passes and more observations are obtained, knowledge of the trajectory improves. So the error goes down and the probability of impact decreases," Ian Carnelli, an asteroid specialist at ESA, told Europe 1.

Deviation

Proof of this is, "the probability of impact has already dropped to one in 5,847". What reassuring, because the damage caused by such a space object could be quite important, the size of this asteroid reminiscent of that "of the object that impacted Siberia in 1908. At the time, 2,000 square kilometers of forests had been destroyed," recalls the scientist.

And if this asteroid still ends up heading towards Earth, NASA thinks it can deflect it, the organism is already training for this kind of situation. Thus, a year ago, the "Dart" mission managed to change the trajectory of a similar flying object.