The US cities of Los Angeles and Washington could become the fall site of the 50-meter-long asteroid “DW 2023” on February 14, 2046, according to astronomers of the US space agency. Although, according to the data of scientists, other variants of the collision are also possible – the predicted impact zones extend from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, reports “The Daily Mail”.
The collision of “DW 2023” with the Earth will be comparable in terms of power to the “Tunguska phenomenon” experienced in Siberia 114 years ago. The “Tungusk Meteorite” was a huge explosion that occurred on June 30, 1908 in an uninhabited taiga near the Tunguska River in Krasnoyarsk Oblast, Russia. Over 2,000 square kilometers of trees were uprooted, most likely caused by a meteorite explosion 5 to 10 kilometers above the Earth.
NASA has announced that it will take several more weeks to collect data on the dangerous asteroid. Previously, the odds of colliding with the Earth were estimated as 1 in 560. It is possible that further observations will reduce this ratio to zero. Researchers continue to monitor “DW 2023” and update predictions as new data comes in, NASA said.
The last significant asteroid collision with Earth occurred on February 15, 2013 near Chelyabinsk. The 20 m wide meteorite caused an explosion equivalent in power to 500 thousand tons of TNT. The shock wave passed over the surface of the globe twice. It caused minor damage and injured more than 1,600 people, the “Plus-one” portal writes.
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