Continuous observations of asteroid 2023 DW, discovered on February 26, have allowed scientists to gather additional information on its path, which has enabled scientists to reduce the probability of their future approaches to the Earth. The new data provides the basis for NASA's Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects' hazard rating, which has increased the likelihood of a 2023 DW collision with the Earth from 1 to 0.
Asteroid 2023 DW will make its closest approach to Earth on February 14, 2046, claiming it the nickname "Valentine's Day asteroid." This meant that the asteroid's trajectory would not intersect with the Earth until it was discovered. By March 16, 115 observations of 2023 DW have been made, and the data obtained suggests that the probability of its collision with the Earth has decreased.
The initial probability that DW collides with our planet in 2023 was 0.18 percent. Two weeks of observations reduced the probability to 0.03%. This has happened many times in the past, and, hopefully, will happen again in the future. Nothing now the collision with Apophis in the next 100 years is regarded as an event tending to zero.
Let's assume that the asteroid 2023 DW has a diameter of about 50 meters, and that it is about twice the size of the Chelyabinsk core. The explosion power from the fall of 2023 DW would be 4 to 40 meters in weight (in Tunguska, the explosion was equivalent to 500 kilometers).
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