Valentine’s Day in the future could be disastrous for the planet Earth. Earlier this week, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office revealed that they have identified an asteroid that could potentially collide with Earth on February 14, 2046, KXAN reported.
The asteroid 2023 DW, which is approximately 160 feet in diameter, is currently about 12 million miles away from Earth, and is moving at a speed of 24.63 kilometers per second. To put it into perspective, the asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was almost 9 miles wide.
George Attard and Alain Maury discovered the asteroid on February 26th, 2023. NASA’s Eyes on Asteroids App indicates that the asteroid completes an orbit around the sun every 271 days.
The detection of potentially hazardous objects and tracking and issuing warnings of potential impacts are among the responsibilities of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
Written by staff
B.C. Begley 