Popular scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson says a small asteroid could collide with the Earth one day before election day in November. It is too small to bring any danger with its impact.
"Asteroid 2018VP1, a refrigerator-sized space-rock, is hurtling towards us at more than 25,000 mi/hr. It may buzz-cut Earth on Nov. 2, the day before the Presidential Election," Tyson warned on Instagram, Saturday. "But it’s not big enough to cause harm. So if the World ends in 2020, it won’t be the fault of the Universe."
NASA has already identified the asteroid and says it has less than a one-percent chance to crack the Earth's atmosphere. "Asteroid 2018VP1 is very small, approx. 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth! It currently has a 0.41% chance of entering our planet’s atmosphere, but if it did, it would disintegrate due to its extremely small size," the organization said.
Regardless of whether the asteroid breaks the Earth's atmosphere, Americans will still be able to safely vote the following day.
Tyson is hosting a new show on Fox titled Cosmos: Possible Worlds. The show is a follow-up to the 2014 television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which Tyson also hosted. The show premiered on March 9, 2020.
[Via]