In fact, another small asteroid between 10 to 20 feet across made the closest approach to Earth ever recorded by a known near-Earth asteroid on August 16th, coming within 1,830 miles, or 2,950 kilometers. 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth! Asteroid 2018VP1: Should we be worried? [2] The line of variations (LOV, uncertainty region[4]) allows the asteroid to impact Earth[a] or pass as far away as 0.025 AU (3,700,000 km; 2,300,000 mi). “Asteroid 2018VP1, a refrigerator-sized space-rock, is hurtling towards us at more than 25,000 mi/hr. [2], The line of variation (LOV) passes across the Pacific Ocean. Over the years, scientists have suggested different ways to ward off threats of more serious impact events, such as blowing up the asteroid before it reaches Earth, or deflecting it off its Earth-bound course by hitting it with a spacecraft.

Asteroid Watch — a NASA branch that detects, tracks and characterises near-earth objects — said Asteroid 2018VP1 has a 0.41 per cent (or one in 240) chance, of entering Earth's atmosphere. “Asteroid 2018VP1, a refrigerator-sized space-rock, is hurtling towards us at more than 40,000 km/hr,” he wrote in a tweet Saturday. The November 2020 Earth approach will be hidden by the glare of the Sun due to the asteroid's low solar elongation in that time. Per the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, celestial object 2018VP1 could ... there is some light in the darkness with regard to the asteroid. HuffPost is part of Verizon Media. 2020 has already been quite a testing year, but NASA has now flagged there is an asteroid zooming toward us. The object, which has a 0.002 km diameter, according to NASA’s data, was first identified at Palomar Observatory in California in 2018.

While the small asteroid is on a path that would bring it close to Earth shortly before the US election, it has a very slim chance of actually making it through Earth's atmosphere.

So if the World ends in 2020, it won’t be the fault of the Universe. ", List Of Apollo Minor Planets (by designation), Table of Asteroids Next Closest Approaches to the Earth, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2018_VP1&oldid=984367284, Minor planet object articles (unnumbered), Potential impact events caused by near-Earth objects, JPL Small-Body Database ID same as Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 October 2020, at 19:03. "Asteroid 2018VP1 is very small, approximately 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth," a NASA spokesperson told Fox News via email. https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/1x1.png, here to join our channel (@indianexpress), The Kashmir action for which October 27 is marked as Infantry Day, Who were the Chicago 7 and what actually happened during their trial, Boris Becker's bankruptcy and the missing Wimbledon trophies, Why is everyone but Kazakhstan miffed with the Borat sequel, ‘Jammu and Kashmir put on sale’: Omar Abdullah on land laws, Bihar: Delay in Durga idol immersion triggers protests, one dead in police firing in Munger, Irfan Pathan is Aslan Yilmaz in Vikram-starrer Cobra, Shah Rukh Khan talks about his next film, quarantine and cooking during #AskSRK, Elderly couple who run Baba ka Dhaba in Delhi undergo free cataract surgery, From the street to chic: The humble origins of Thai canine fashion influencer Moo Ta, India team physio wants 2-3 weeks’ rest for Rohit Sharma, Sunrisers stay alive: Warner & Bros. hand Delhi third consecutive defeat. If it did hit our atmosphere, it would completely disintegrate up above us and pose no threat to anyone below.

Even if the asteroid does enter our planet’s atmosphere, it is unlikely to cause any harm on November 2.

NASA JPL has classified 2018 VP1 as a "Near Earth Asteroid" due to its orbit's proximity to Earth, but it is not considered potentially hazardous because computer simulations have not indicated any imminent likelihood of future collision. “Asteroid 2018VP1 is very small, approx.

The Center uses a wide array of ground-based telescopes to track these objects, and it keeps an extensive catalog of everything slated to pass by Earth. — NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) August 23, 2020. The celestial object known as 2018VP1 is projected to come near Earth on November 2, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A 13-day observational arc followed, after which the asteroid was not detected again. Even if the asteroid does enter our planet’s atmosphere, it is unlikely to cause any harm on November 2. [2] Its diameter of 2–4 meters makes it approximately 100–1000 times less massive than the 20-meter Chelyabinsk meteor. 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth! “Asteroid 2018VP1” orbits the Sun once every 2 years, and spends months or years out of sight.