Asteroid about 50 meters has little risk of impact with Earth

An asteroid about 50 meters in diameter, discovered on February 26, has a trajectory that poses a small risk of impacting Earth on February 14, 2046.

“We have been tracking a new asteroid called 2023 DW that has a very low probability of impacting Earth in 2046. Often, when discovering new objects for the first time, several weeks of data are needed to reduce uncertainties and adequately predict their consequences. orbits in the future”, explains NASA on its Twitter social network account dedicated to asteroid tracking.

We’ve been tracking a new asteroid named 2023 DW that has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2046. Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future . (1/2) pic.twitter.com/SaLC0AUSdP

– NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) March 7, 2023

The asteroid’s closest approach to Earth is scheduled for February 14, 2046, 1.8 million kilometers from the planet.

NASA orbit analysts will continue to monitor asteroid 2023 DW and will update predictions as they have more data.

The asteroid, discovered from the MAP Observatory San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile, has an estimated diameter of 49 meters and is currently 0.12 astronomical units from Earth, circulating at a relative speed relative to the Sun of 24.63 kilometers per second (more than 88 thousand kilometers per hour).

Its orbital period is 271 days.

The Coordination Center for Near-Earth Objects, of the European Space Agency, predicted on Wednesday at 1 in 625 the probability of a direct impact, but these probabilities are recalculated daily.