Asteroid 2023DW cause of worry? Will it hit or miss Earth on Valentine’s Day in 2046

NASA scientists' prediction earlier this month that an asteroid estimated to be roughly as big as an Olympic swimming pool has a chance of crashing into earth raised serious concerns. Estimations suggested that the asteroid may hit the Earth on Valentine's Day in 2046.

Soon, scientists and space agencies started tracking the new asteroid to gauge the chances of its impact on Earth. Orbit analysts continued monitoring asteroid but cited that it is common for newly discovered asteroids to appear more risky during the initial observations than they really are.

NASA initially placed the asteroid on the 'Risk List' of the objects present in space. The space rock named 2023DW ranked 1 out of 10 on the Torino scale, which is used to measure the chances of the space object impacting the Earth.

However, if latest observations are to be believed, the asteroid has been reassigned to 0 on the Torino scale. This means chances of a collision is almost zero, or is very low as to be effectively zero.

The asteroid which is a little over 49 meters in diameter was discovered by two astronomers in Chile on February 26 and is being monitored by NASA and the European Space Agency.