Near-Earth Object - Future Impacts

Future Impacts

Although there have been a few false alarms, a number of objects have been known to be threats to the Earth. (89959) 2002 NT7 was the first asteroid with a positive rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale, with approximately one in a million on a potential impact date of February 1, 2019; it is now known that on January 13, 2019, 2002 NT₇ will safely pass 0.4078 AU (61,010,000 km; 37,910,000 mi) from the Earth.

Asteroid (29075) 1950 DA was lost after its discovery in 1950, since not enough observations were made to allow plotting of its orbit, and then rediscovered on December 31, 2000. The chance it will impact Earth on March 16, 2880, during its close approach has been estimated as 1 in 300. This chance of impact for such a large object is roughly 50% greater than that for all other such objects combined through 2880. It has a diameter of about a kilometer (0.6 miles).

Only the asteroids 99942 Apophis (provisionally known as 2004 MN4) and (144898) 2004 VD₁₇ have briefly had above-normal rankings on the Torino Scale.