Newly found asteroid has a 'very small chance' of hitting Earth, NASA says

Asteroid 2023 DW will make a close approach to Earth on Feb. 14, 2046. NASA and other agencies are closely monitoring the asteroid to learn more about its projected path. (NASA)

The asteroid 2023 DW was just discovered in late February. But NASA says it’s tracking it closely to learn about its orbital path, because the asteroid “has a very small chance of impacting Earth” in 23 years.

The asteroid’s diameter is listed at nearly 50 meters — roughly the size of an Olympic swimming pool. It takes 271 days to orbit the sun.

NASA says that, after a new object is first discovered, “it takes several weeks of data to reduce the uncertainties and adequately predict their orbits years into the future.”