The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has predicted a small chance an asteroid could collide with the Earth in November. The asteroid could be as close as 4,700 miles according to NASA’s close approach database.
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The asteroid, dubbed 2018VP1, was first discovered at the Palomar Observatory in California’s San Diego County two years ago.
NASA has said there is a 0.41 per cent, or 1 in 240 chance that 2018VP1 would impact the Earth. Even if the asteroid does enter our planet’s atmosphere, it is unlikely to cause any harm on November 2.
2018VP1 has a diameter of all but 2 metres, around the size of a small automobile, and would likely burn up into an impressive fireball after entering the Earth’s atmosphere before reaching the ground. Such an event happens about once every year.
As per NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Programme, asteroids that are 140 metres or larger are of “the greatest concern” due to the level of devastation their impact is capable of causing.
However, no asteroid larger than 140 metres has a “significant” chance of hitting the Earth for the next 100 years.
