Detecting an asteroid the size of an olympic swimming pool, topping the list of Earth collision risk

Valentine's Day 2046 can be memorable for a number of reasons. Not only can you get a lovely card from your wife, lover or an unidentified 'fan', but you'll also get the chance to witness the moment a massive asteroid slams into Earth and causing widespread destruction.

Hopefully the second scenario won't happen as international astronomers have just found a 49-metre-wide 'space rock' that is calculated to have a 1/625 chance of colliding with their planet. us in a few decades.

Called 2023 DW, the asteroid about the size of a standard Olympic swimming pool is currently topping the European Space Agency's Risk List, as the only asteroid Most have a rating of '1' on the Turin scale, which is used to classify the collision risk of near-Earth objects.

However, experts also reassured that 2023 DW only had a 'very small chance' of impacting our planet. Since 2023 DW was only discovered a few days ago, scientists are continuing to conduct in-depth analyzes to more precisely define the asteroid's characteristics.

Even if later analyzes show an increased risk of 2023 DW colliding with Earth, it would also be a golden opportunity for NASA to deploy its asteroid deflection system. The technology was tested last year with great success, successfully intercepting a distant asteroid, with the impact force being strong enough to change its course permanently.

To date, hundreds of thousands of asteroids have been discovered inside the solar system, with a rate of about 5000 asteroids per month. This number is expected to continue to increase because the development of modern science and technology makes it easier and simpler to detect asteroids passing by the Earth, can even be done by satellites. non-specialist researchers.

Marvin Fry

Update 20 March 2023