A mile-wide asteroid is expected to skim past Earth on Wednesday. Known as (52768) 1998 OR2, the asteroid will zoom past at around 19,000 miles per hour. During this, it will be just under four million miles away (16 times the distance between the Earth and the moon). Despite an official classification as ’potentially hazardous object’, scientists say the asteroid won’t put the planet at risk.
19,000 mph? Not as fast as the stock Honda Civic that drives past my house at 3am
"Zip past Earth" = not hazardous
Oh no, more to be afraid of! First it was the sniffles, now this?!?!
What's the matter? Can't you hit us?! No balls! No balls! Your mother was a pebble!
So an Asteroid won't even be as close as the moon, is somehow zipping past earth? Okay. Going for the fearmongering clickbait again aren't we?
It ain’t hazardous betas
I don't care how far away they are, every time i see these in the news it freaks me the shit out. We need to put an end to the indulgence of political bickering and start devising defense and cleanup strategies for the solar system. We have the opportunity to redeem our species by being guardians of all life, and multi-planet gardeners. Or we can just continue being well dressed chimps.
Dear asteroid: If you DO strike, please let it be China. Thanks.
If it won't put us at risk, it's not potentially hazardous. Unless it's 2020, of course.