Article 506DZ Another week, another warning from NASA about an asteroid headed our way March 3, 2020

Another week, another warning from NASA about an asteroid headed our way March 3, 2020

by
Mark Frauenfelder
from on (#506DZ)
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Team asteroid was narrowly defeated by the Terrans earlier this month when a skyscraper-sized rock named 163373 (2002 PZ39) failed to slam into Earth. The asteroids have a second chance of hitting Earth on March 3 with a scrappier contender named 2020 DA4.

From IB Times:

Based on the asteroid's size and current speed, the blast from its airburst could be equivalent to multiple atomic bombs. Although much of the explosion will be directed towards the atmosphere, the remaining energy could still be powerful enough to damage buildings, shatter windows and injure people on the ground.

According to CNEOS, 2020 DA4 will intersect Earth's orbit on March 3 at 9:06 a.m. EST. As it crosses Earth's path, the asteroid is expected to be about 0.00629 astronomical units or roughly 585,000 miles from the planet's center. This means that the asteroid will only be about twice the distance between the Earth and the Moon during its approach.

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