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  • 2020-02-13 (xsd:date)
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  • Is an Asteroid Expected to Hit the Day After Valentine's Day 2020? (en)
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  • In February 2020, numerous social media users were concerned about a potentially planet-killing asteroid that supposedly was expected to hit earth on the day after Valentine's Day. As is typical for this type of armageddon rumor, fears about this doomsday event were overblown and largely based on fear-mongering headlines: International Business (IBT) Times published an article headlined: Largest Planet-Killer Asteroid To Approach Earth This Month Arriving On Saturday. The Express claimed: NASA asteroid alert: Radars track a 20,000MPH space rock on 'close approach' this weekend. All of these articles are somewhat based in reality. NASA monitors the skies for NEOs (near-earth objects), and a large asteroid was indeed approaching earth in February 2020. However, these articles led many people to believe their lives were in danger, and that the asteroid was expected to hit earth. But that simply isn't the case. While these articles spend time talking about what would happen if a large asteroid actually made impact with the earth (complete with pictures of cinematic doomsday events), they all concede in their concluding paragraphs that this asteroid (asteroid 163373 or 2002 PZ39) won't come within 3 million miles of earth. IBT writes (emphasis ours): According to [NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies], 163373 (2002 PZ39)’s near-Earth intersection will happen on Feb. 15 at 6:05 a.m. EST. During this time, the asteroid will pass over the planet from a distance of 0.03860 astronomical units or around 3.6 million miles away. NASA confirmed this to us in a statement, writing: The trajectory of asteroid 2002 PZ39 is very well known. It will pass by Earth at a distance of about 5.77 million kilometers (approximately 3.59 million miles). The asteroid will approach no closer than about 15 times the distance of the Moon. The Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) is constantly monitoring the skies for potentially dangerous asteroids. In fact, CNEOS currently lists about 20 asteroids that will pass safely by earth over the next month. Only one, a relatively small asteroid with an estimated diameter of about of 50 meters called asteroid 2018 GY, is expected to come within 1 million miles of earth. Here’s a little more information about near-earth objects from CNEOS (emphasis ours): This is hardly the first time we've received questions about a potential earth-killing asteroid. In fact, we've been investigating rumors about doomsday asteroids since at least 2015. These fear-inducing reports have all come and gone without incident, and we expect that asteroid 2002 PZ39 will do the same. (en)
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