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NASA and the European Space Agency are monitoring an asteroid that has a "non-zero" probability of colliding with Earth later this year. Based on the data collected by the two agencies, the asteroid is not in danger of causing an impact event due to its small size. The approaching asteroid has been identified as 2018 VP1. This asteroid is currently listed in NASA’s Sentry and the ESA’s Risk List, which are the agencies’ respective asteroid impact monitoring systems. As noted by the agencies, all asteroids listed in Sentry and the Risk List have chances of colliding with Earth in the...

A MASSIVE asteroid that could have destroyed New York City skimmed past Earth – and NASA had no clue. The large space rock – dubbed 2017 VL2 – passed the planet on November 9 at an astonishing distance of just 73,000 miles, which is considered tiny in space terms. Space boffins think that if the rock measuring between 16 and 32 metres had hit, it could’ve wiped a major city such as New York off the map. The rock belongs to the Apollo group of asteroids and was first seen at ATLAS-MLO observatory in Hawaii a day later. It was...

Explanation: Each day on planet Earth can have a serene beginning at sunrise as the sky gently grows bright over a golden eastern horizon. This sunrise panorama seems to show such a moment on the winter morning of February 15. In the mist, a calm, mirror-like stretch of the Miass River flows through the foreground along a frosty landscape near Chelyabinsk, Russia. But the long cloud wafting through the blue sky above is the evolving persistent train of the Chelyabinsk Meteor. The vapor trail was left by the space rock that exploded over the city only 18 minutes earlier, causing...