NASA says large asteroid not likely to impact Earth on its 2032 return
21 Oct 2013 11:48 PM GMT
The asteroid 2013 TV135 made a close approach to Earth on September 16, when it came within about 6.7 million kilometres and it is likely to pay our planet another visit in 2032.
However, NASA has allayed fears that the massive space rock could prove dangerous, with the US space agency saying that the probability this asteroid could then impact Earth is only one in 63,000. ‘To put it another way, that puts the current probability of no impact in 2032 at about 99.998 per cent,’ said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Programme Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The asteroid was discovered on 8 October 2013, by astronomers working at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Ukraine. The object should be easily observable in the coming months.
However, NASA has allayed fears that the massive space rock could prove dangerous, with the US space agency saying that the probability this asteroid could then impact Earth is only one in 63,000. ‘To put it another way, that puts the current probability of no impact in 2032 at about 99.998 per cent,’ said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Programme Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The asteroid was discovered on 8 October 2013, by astronomers working at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Ukraine. The object should be easily observable in the coming months.
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