The first calculations said that the collision could happen on February 14, 2046. Astronomers carefully monitor newly discovered space objects and refine their orbit calculations for the following years within weeks. During this time, the asteroid 2023 DW has progressed from the first rung of the Turin scale, which evaluates the danger of a possible collision of our planet with some space body, to a degree of 0. This means that the probability of a collision is “zero, or is so low that it is in basically zero”, writes the server bnonews.
Astronomers immediately shifted their attention to another asteroid 2023 DZ2, which was discovered on February 27 this year in the Canary Islands. It is about 64 meters in diameter, more than three times the size of the Chelyabinsk asteroid, which hit Russia in 2013 and injured nearly 1,500 people.
The first calculations said that it should hit the Earth on March 27, 2026. After several weeks of observation, it was assigned a number one on the Turin scale, which means that there is currently no cause for concern.
One of the “closest encounters” between an asteroid and our planet took place this January, when a newly discovered asteroid flew past the Earth at an altitude of 3,600 kilometers.
