14 FEB,2046 LAST DAY OF EARTH...?

If this year's Valentine's Day was not eventful enough, you must wait for 23 years, as in 2046 the day might turn out to be the 'end of the world'.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) informed on Wednesday about an asteroid '2023 DW' which is approaching the Earth and has a chance of impacting the planet on 14 February of the year 2046.

The space agency is tracking the asteroid which is about 49.29 meters in diameter and currently at a distance of around 0.12 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. Astronomical unit (AU) is a unit of length effectively equal to the average, or mean, the distance between Earth and the Sun.

What is the asteroid 2023 DW?

According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch, 2023 DW is an asteroid that has an estimated diameter of about 49.29 metres and, at the time of writing, is at a distance of about 0.12 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. An astronomical unit is the average distance between the centre of the Earth and the centre of the Sun.

Will the asteroid 2023 DW crash into Earth?

Currently, all that can be said is that we can’t really be sure even though the chances are “extremely unlikely.” To quote NASA Asteroid Watch’s Twitter account, “Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future.”

“We've been tracking a new asteroid named 2023 DW that has a very small chance of impacting Earth in 2046. Often when new objects are first discovered, it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future," NASA Asteroid Watch tweeted.

The space agency added that orbit analysts will continue to monitor asteroid 2023 DW and update predictions as more data comes in.

The current velocity of the asteroid relative to the sun is 24.63 km per second and it takes around 271 days to complete one solar orbit. The closest 2023 DW can get to the Sun is 0.49 AU

Will it crash onto the Earth?

According to space scientists, the event of the 2023 DW crashing on Earth is unlikely. The nearest the asteroid will get to Earth is 1,828,086 km and the event is expected to be on 14 February 2046.

Still, in case the asteroid poses any threat to the planet, space agencies have proper mechanisms in place to deal with such threats. Like, NASA has what they call a Planetary defense system which encompasses all the capabilities needed to detect the possibility and warn of potential asteroid or comet impacts with Earth, and then either prevent them or mitigate their possible effects.

elative to the Sun, the asteroid is travelling at the speed of about 24.64 kilometres per second. 2023 DW takes about 271 days to complete one orbit around the Sun. At its perihelion, or closest point to the Sun, it could come within 0.49 AU of the star at the centre of our planetary system. Of course, these figures could change based on more observations of the near-Earth object

How can we prevent 2023 DW from crashing into Earth?

What if the asteroid were actually on a collision course with Earth? What do we do? Sending Bruce Willis and a team of oil drillers to break up the asteroid is no longer an option.

Well, not too long ago, the only asteroid mitigation strategies that we could come up with were nothing more than theory. But all that changed in October last year when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos, successfully altering its path and demonstrating humanity’s first asteroid mitigation strategy.