Asteroid 2020 SW passed close to the Earth on Thursday

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“The Virtual Telescope is my last effort,” Dr. Masi said, “its goal is to offer to everyone in the world a chance to look at the Universe, even to those without an advanced instrument or resource, both for science and fun.” 

Coming soon: asteroid 2018VP1 on November 2, 2020

An asteroid named 2018 VP1 is scheduled to zoom past Earth on November 2. Americans will cast their vote for the next President of the United States the next day. 

“Asteroid 2018VP1 is very small, approx. 6.5 feet, and poses no threat to Earth!” NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office tweeted on August 23. “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.”

Sky-scanners discovered 2018 VP1 at the Zwicky Transient Facility at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory in 2018. Because it’s so small, scientists have trouble tracking the tiny asteroid and plotting its trajectory.

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