Riskiest Asteroid Known to Humankind in the Last Year Will Not Strike Earth for at Least 100 Years

Sci-Tech Daily ^ | JUNE 30, 2022 | EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA)

[BenLurkin]

ESA’s asteroid team working with experts at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has officially removed ‘2021 QM1’ from their asteroid risk list, a result of skilled observations and analysis of the faintest asteroid ever observed with one of the most sensitive telescopes ever constructed.

2021 QM1 was first discovered on August 28, 2021, by the Mount Lemmon Observatory, located north of Tucson, Arizona. At the beginning, nothing stood out as unusual about the discovery – about a dozen new near-Earth asteroids are identified every dark night. Routine follow-up observations were subsequently acquired from telescopes around the globe, but these began to tell a more worrying story.

It’s important to note that orbit calculations based on only a few nights of observations are subject to some uncertainty, which is why asteroids often get added to ESA’s risk list soon after they are discovered and are then subsequently removed once more data is gathered, uncertainties shrink, and the asteroid is proven safe. On this occasion, that was not possible.

[BenLurkin]

{sigh}

[dfwgator]

Dammit!

[Red Badger]

What about 101 years?.................

[EEGator]

So I have to keep working?…

[Telepathic Intruder]

In any case, at 50 meters wide, it’s not a planet killer. It’s over twice the diameter of the meteor that exploded over that Russian city in 2013, however, which would probably give it between 20 and 50 times the impact.

[fruser1]

On the downside, the second riskiest will strike today at 6PM EDT.

Have a nice day!

[NonValueAdded]

So much for Global Warming. Who cares if we’re all gonna die in 100 years? Besides, Putin/Xi will give us nuclear winter long before then.

[SuperLuminal]

Currently at 88, I might have gone to ground temperature by then...

Apophis, on the other hand...

[Deplorable American1776]

Ok, so Liberals can tax us to see if it is the fault of Gun Owners, Trump, Whites, Republicans, the Dobbs case or Çlimate Change.

[tet68]

a dozen new near-Earth asteroids are identified every dark night.

So, 4,380 new ones a year.

I feel better now.