Newly spotted 50-meter asteroid tops Risk List:
Valentine's Day 2046 could be memorable for a number of reasons. Not only might you receive a card from an admirer you never knew you had, but you might also witness a large asteroid slamming into Earth and causing widespread devastation.
Hopefully the only delivery anyone will be getting that day is a card, but scientists say that a 49-meter-wide asteroid discovered last week is currently calculated to have a 1-in-625 chance of hitting our planet in a couple of decades from now.
The rock, called 2023 DW, now sits atop the European Space Agency's Risk List as the only one with a "1" rating on the Torino scale, which is used for categorizing the impact hazard of near-Earth objects.
[...] As asteroid 2023 DW was only discovered a few days ago, scientists are continuing with their analysis to determine more precisely the characteristics of the rock, which is similar in size to an Olympic swimming pool.
[...] If later analysis suggests an increased risk of 2023 DW crashing into Earth, it would be a golden opportunity for NASA to deploy its asteroid deflection system. The technology was tested last year with great success when it smashed a spacecraft into a distant asteroid, with the force of the impact altering the rock's course.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 12, @08:44AM (6 children)
So what would be the effect of that impact? Atomic bomb level? Dinosaur killer level?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12, @11:12AM (2 children)
The asteroid that caused the Chicxulub has been estimated as having a diameter of over 6 KM, so this ain't a dinosaur killer level event. The one purportedly responsible for the Tunguska event was estimated as having a diameter of 200 M, so also smaller than that. That one was atomic bomb level. Perhaps something on par with that fuel explosion that happened in Lebanon recently? Just a guess. Bad if it hits a populated area.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12, @11:16AM
* Chicxulub crater.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Barenflimski on Sunday March 12, @04:37PM
If this hit earth, I wouldn't be surprised if there were no dinosaurs left come 2047.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday March 12, @12:40PM (2 children)
As AC said, serious but not quite Tunguska event serious, nowhere near dino killer serious.
50 meters in 23 years sounds like a perfect target practice opportunity.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday March 12, @12:42PM (1 child)
Bonus points if we can steer it into the moon for a visible from Earth collision. Extra bonus if it can hit on the visible dark side...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Sunday March 12, @04:25PM
I think the real bonus shot would be to put just the right spin on it to send it into another asteroid that also threatens Earth decades from now, sending the two of them right into Jupiter or something like that.
Extra bonus points if they call the shot ahead of time. Asteroid #548, left corner pocket.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12, @03:06PM (1 child)
What did the surface look like before it had spots? Who painted the spots on the asteroid?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @08:42PM
> What did the surface look like before it had spots?
Stripes, duh.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 12, @07:57PM
Here we call them stalkers
(Score: 3, Funny) by istartedi on Sunday March 12, @08:30PM (1 child)
Anything to get out of buying roses and chocolate.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @09:22PM
Oh, and that won't backfire?