NASA: Asteroid to pass close to Earth near Election Day

by: Nexstar Media Wire and CNN

Posted: Aug 23, 2020 / 06:57 AM EDT / Updated: Aug 23, 2020 / 06:57 AM EDT

IN SPACE – In this handout photo provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) on July 17, 2014, German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took this image of the Earth reflecting light from the sun whilst aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Gerst returned to earth on November 10, 2014 after spending six months on the International Space Station completing an extensive scientific programme, known as the ‘Blue Dot’ mission (after astronomer Carl Sagan’s description of Earth, as seen on a photograph taken by the Voyager probe from six billion kilometres away). (Photo by Alexander Gerst / ESA via Getty Images)

HOUSTON (CNN/NEXSTAR) — If 2020 couldn’t get any wilder, NASA now predicts an asteroid will come close to earth the day before the U.S. election.

The agency said the asteroid is named “2018V-P-1.” Its diameter is around 6.5 feet, according to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It was first identified from Palomar Observatory in San Diego County in November of 2018.

The object will come close to our atmosphere around November 2 but the probability of it impacting earth is very small at just 0.41%.