NASA Confirms Asteroid Could Potentially Hit Earth The Day Before Election Day
CNN - Amid a pandemic, civil unrest and a divisive US election season, we now have an asteroid zooming toward us.
On the day before the presidential vote, no less.
Yep. The celestial object known as 2018VP1 is projected to come close to Earth on November 2, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Its diameter is 0.002 km, or about 6.5 feet, according to NASA's data. It was first identified at Palomar Observatory in California in 2018.
NASA says there are three potential impacts, but "based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days," the agency has determined the asteroid probably -- phew! -- won't have a deep impact, let alone bring Armageddon.
The chance of it hitting us is just 0.41%, data show.
CNN has reached out NASA for any additional or updated information but has not heard back.
God, or whoever you believe is controlling this simulation we're living in, sure has a very sick sense of humor.
2020 went off the rails so long ago announcements like this aren't even front-page news. Instead, they're met with a "yah, sounds about right."
Cynics would love to point out "this thing only has 0.41% chance of impacting Earth" and tell you this is much to do about nothing.
Given how this year has played out, especially with the longshots on the board continuing to come in over and over again would you not put your money on this space rock slightly changing trajectory's and making a beeline directly for wherever it can do most damage?
For reference check this quick vid out -
Water makes up 71% of the Earth's surface area, so odds are it makes impact in an ocean somewhere. Even a bitch sized asteroid like this one in reference would cause a tsunami so large it'd be felt worldwide. It would also vaporize so much water and give off so much co2 like water vapor it would completely change our atmosphere composition and increase the Earth's temperature even more than it already has.
Pretty sweet stuff.
So again, it's not the size of the meteor that's important. It's quite literally the "motion in the ocean."
If you want to see a really depressing scenario of the hellfire and brimstone that would come with a land impact, then check out this Discovery Channel simulation -
I realize we have much bigger fish to fry and that these asteroid reports seem to be an every other month announcement right now but I dunno, something about this one seems different. I think it's a winner.
We've also got this baby in the pipeline for 2029, which if we actually make it that far would be a miracle.
p.s. - speaking of God, here's a little Sunday homily from the GOAT