NASA warns of a huge asteroid heading towards Earth: What are the possibilities of a head-on collision?

Multiple enormous asteroids are earth-bound, according to NASA. Some of them crossed Earth's orbit days ago, and we are decades away from the impact of others. The space agency pays close attention to spectacularly large space rocks (those wider than 450 feet).

A head-on collision with either of them can have fatal consequences. A similar asteroid impact is believed to have caused the extinction of dinosaurs and other related species 66 million years ago in the late Mesozoic era. Thus, we must act in time to prevent history from repeating itself.

One such peculiar rock has a slight chance of colliding with Earth. It is quite large, and NASA has defined it as a city killer. By all measures, it will miss the planet and has a meager 625 chance of a direct collision.

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A massive asteroid collision can be disastrous, but NASA and ESA warn otherwise

According to NASA's calculations, the massive 2023 DW asteroid might hit Earth on a very peculiar day: February 14, 2046. The space agency mentioned that it takes them weeks to predict the path assumed by an asteroid.

They will continue to monitor the movements of the 2023 DW and keep the planet updated. Even slightly altering the rock's path might change its course to deflect it further from Earth.

However, based on the current path, the asteroid is assumed to have a slight chance of hitting Los Angeles, Hawaii, or DC. It might land somewhere in between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. However, a water landing will not cushion the scale of damage from impact.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has marked the asteroid as harmless to the public. Thus, unless it deflects from its current course, no one needs to worry about a potential doomsday on Valentine's Day 2046.

The 2023 DW asteroid has an estimated diameter of 49.29m, which makes it about as big as a 20-story building. The rock orbits the sun at a lightning speed of over 24 km per second. For now, it is completing revolutions around the star every 271 days.

It is worth noting that multiple such asteroids wander the solar system. A bunch of asteroids is concentrated between Mars and Jupiter, which make up the asteroid belt. The 2023 DW is not part of this belt.

NASA's website shows that the rock is far away from Earth and other planets. According to scientific calculations, the asteroid should be millions of kilometers away from our planet most of the time.

Most asteroids get burnt up in the upper layers of the atmosphere. However, if 2023 DW lands on the planet, it will be much like the Tunguska asteroid crash in June 1908. The rock crashed in Siberia, very close to the settlements, and damaged some buildings. However, there weren't any confirmed casualties.