NASA is monitoring an asteroid that could hit Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046

NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office announced it has been tracking a new asteroid that could potentially hit Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046. Estimated to be about the length of a 50-meter Olympic swimming pool, the asteroid, known as 2023 DW, was discovered last month, according to the European Space Agency (ESA). Initial calculations by astronomer Piero Sicoli predicted it has a one in 400 chance of striking our planet.

While scientists with the ESA have placed this extraterrestrial projectile on their Risk List, a “catalogue of all objects for which a non-zero impact probability has been computed,” NASA has indicated there is currently no reason to alert the general public of the threat it poses. However, of the nearly 1,500 asteroids that are on this watch list, one thing sets 2023 DW apart from the rest: it is the only one to hold a risk rating greater than zero.

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