Asteroid Unlikely to Hit Earth Right Before Election Day
The Claim
An asteroid will hit Earth the day before Election Day in the U.S.
News posted on
Emerging story
On August 24, 2020, Yahoo published an article called “Yes, There’s an Asteroid Coming for Earth Right Before Election Day.”
The claim soon went viral on social media.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found that the claim is misleading. Asteroid 2018 VP1 is approaching Earth before the U.S. Presidential Election. However, it is extremely unlikely to hit Earth.
There is a calculated 1/240 chance that the asteroid will make its way into Earth’s atmosphere. Even if it does, NASA has said that it is unlikely to cause any danger. NASA research Donald Yeomans said: “Close approaches by small objects of this size are not rare, and even if something of this size were to impact, the object would not likely survive the Earth’s atmosphere.”
NASA’s official Asteroid Watch Twitter page says that the asteroid “poses no threat to Earth.”
