Neil DeGrasse Tyson: Refrigerator-Sized Asteroid Could Hit Earth Soon

NEAR Space Probe to Land on Asteroid Eros — 385446 03: FILE PHOTO: A mosaic image of asteroid Eros at it's north pole, taken by the robotic NEAR Shoemaker space probe February 14, 2000 immediately after the spacecraft's insertion into orbit. After a year of circling and taking pictures, NEAR will touch down on asteroid Eros February 12, 2001, to capture surface details, which will be the first time any craft has tried to land on a tumbling space rock. NASA/Newsmakers

A certain asteroid is currently moving toward Earth, said the world's most prominent astrophysicists Neil deGrasse Tyson.

It could theoretically strike the planet just before November 2.

The prominent astrophysicist said that if the planet eventually ends in 2020, it would not entirely be the world's responsibility.

The asteroid identified as 2018VP1 has been on the radar since the moment it was observed by the famed Palomar Observatory in California in November 2018.

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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. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 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. A post shared by Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neildegrassetyson) on Oct 17, 2020 at 6:40pm PDT

Instagram Post About the Asteroid Described by Neil deGrasse

The astrophysicist then posted on Instagram that the 2018VP1, a space-rock-sized refrigerator, is currently hurling straight to earth in his Instagram post. Neil de Grasse mentioned that this space rock's speed was at 25,000 miles per hour.

It was then reported that the asteroid could theoretically buzz-cut Earth around a day before November 2.

This came with the following argument that the comet, though, is simply not large enough to do serious harm, and it won't be the whole responsibility of the Universe if the planet ends in 2020.

NASA: Asteroids Actually Not Destructive

On Twitter, NASA Asteroid Watch reported that the 2018VP1 asteroid is probably tiny and just around 6.5 ft in size and does not pose any danger to Earth.

According to NASA, an asteroid only has 0.41 percent of what directly reaches the Earth's atmosphere. It was also claimed that it would disintegrate if it were to reach Earth because of its really small size.

A new "ticking time bomb" star was also discovered this year, said to be around 10 to 15 times the size of the Sun. There were many visible space events and other findings as well.

NASA has also stepped up both its space observation activities and its work to bring astronauts back to the moon in preparation for a possible Mars flight.

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. — NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) August 23, 2020

Mission to Mars

One of the ultimate priorities of not just NASA but also SpaceX is the Mars mission. In a recent interview with NASA and SpaceX conducted by Everyday Astronaut, SpaceX claimed that the key reason for SpaceX's development was to speed up attempts to reach Mars.

One of NASA's exciting remarks regarding SpaceX is that SpaceX is not afraid of defeat, which is one of its key strengths. SpaceX has been said to have the potential to test, lose, learn, and come back better.

The work of NASA with SpaceX has just begun and their relationship may be predicted to continue for years due to the amount of collaborations they have lined up.