Asteroid to pass really close to Earth, might collide with it in 2023

A new announcement came about a possible collision of our planet with an asteroid discovered a little over a year ago could occur within months.

Specifically, it was in January 2022 when several scientists from the Astronomical Institute of the European Space Agency announced that they had discovered a new asteroid: 2022 AE1.

This, according to what they said, was a body in the solar system the size of a small island and that it could collide with the Earth this coming summer, specifically on July 4, 2023.

In fact, the initial observations of the asteroid even led the scientists to think about deflecting the asteroid because its size could cause catastrophic damage when it hits the blue planet.

An ESA astronomer, Marco Micheli, went so far as to claim that asteroid 2022 AE1 had "the highest range on the Palermo scale" that he and his colleagues had seen "in over a decade."

"In my almost 10 years at the European Space Agency, I have never seen such a risky object," he added.

Specifically, the Palermo scale is a tool used to indicate the danger of an asteroid impact after combining its probability of colliding with Earth and the energy with which it could crash into our planet.

Also, shortly after, the data collected by ESA suggested that the asteroid would pass this summer close to Earth, but not so close as to pose a real threat.

Laura Faggioli, a specialist in measuring the trajectory of objects that pass near the planet, explained it this way: "The data was clear and was confirmed the next morning by our NASA counterparts. Asteroid 2022 AE1 does not present a risk of impact; now we have to move on to the next one".

Finally, it is worth mentioning that some observers have continued to monitor the mentioned asteroid that seems to pass very close to our planet.