Will 2020 go out with a bang? Asteroid heading for Earth could HIT the night before the 2020 presidential election (but, don’t worry, there’s only a 0.041 chance)
- Asteroid 2018 VP1 is expected to fly close to Earth on November 2, 2020 – the day before the presidential election
- It has a 0.41 per cent chance of hitting Earth but if it does enter the atmosphere it is unlikley to cause damage as it’s only 6.5ft (.002km) in diameter
- The asteroid was first observed in November 2018
Looks like the tumultous year of 2020 could go out with a bang – literally.
An asteroid – known as 2018 VP1 – is headed straight to Earth, just a day before the 2020 US presidential election.
The asteroid could hit on November 2, 2020, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS) at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Asteroid 2018 VP1 could hit Earth on November 2, 2020
It is approximately 6.5ft (.002km) in diameter and was first observed in November 2018. It was first spotted at the Palomar Observatory in California.
There are three potential impacts, but the impact is not expected to be disastrous based off 21 observations over 13 days.
It has a .41 per cent chance of hitting, data reports.
If it were to hit the atmosphere, the asteroid is so small that it would only look really bright before breaking up into tiny pieces, WHIO reports.
Diagrams showing the orbit of the asteroid