Space1 min(s) read
Published 10:00 23 Aug 2020 GMT
With Election Day set to take place on Tuesday, November 3, many people across the US are already dreading the outcome.
The nation seems so divided at the moment, that it would appear that no matter who is voted into the Oval Office, 50% of the country is going to be left bitterly disappointed.
But what if I told you about Option 3?
Yes, it would appear that Election Day may be interrupted, as a huge asteroid is currently hurtling towards Earth. 2020, you really do keep getting better and better, don't you?
According to the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an asteroid that is projected to come close to Earth later this year has a 0.41% chance - that's 1-in-240 - of hitting our planet.
The space agency did add that the asteroid - known as 2018VP1 - is currently estimated to pass near Earth on November 2, just one day before the US presidential election, CNN has reported.
However, despite determining three potential impact points, the CNEOS added that "based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days", a direct impact in unlikely.
To quote Lloyd Christmas from Dumb & Dumber: So you're telling me there's a chance?
Per The Independent, 2018VP1 was first identified at the Palomar Observatory in California back in 2018. In addition, the asteroid is not considered a "potentially hazardous object" due to its small size - with a diameter of 0.002 km... or roughly 6.5 feet, according to NASA data.
In fact, if the asteroid did get close to Earth, Michael Narlock - the head of astronomy at the Cranbrook Institute of Science - said that an object of its size is unlikely to do more than create what astronomers call a bolide.
Relive the impact of the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor:
[[jwplayerwidget||https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/FONRid8b-Q0L14jDU.mp4||FONRid8b]]
According to NASA, a bolide is an "exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to to be seen over a very wide area". It would be similar to the one seen over Michigan in January 2018 (video below).
[[youtubewidget||https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbaC67R13Oc]]
The Independent adds that earlier this week, an asteroid flew just 1,830 miles over the southern Indian Ocean. This is the closest such an object has flown past Earth on record.
The asteroid - known as 2020 GC - was spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility, a robotic camera that scans the sky, and is believed to be roughly the size of a large car.
