An asteroid is heading for the earth

2020 is turning out to be a real dick. First the volcano, and then the pandemic, and now, we have a celestial prank, as we find out that the chunk of space rock headed our way is probably just popping in to say hi. Scientists at NASA are projecting that an asteroid about 6.5 feet in diameter – roughly as tall as Michael Jordan – will come close to Earth on November 2, later this year. According to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,there are three potential impact sites, but that it probably isn’t going to be a planet killer. In fact, there’s only a 0.41% chance that the asteroid – named 2018VP1 – hits the earth. Whew. Interestingly, another asteroid – 2020GC – basically buzzed the earth, flying just 1,830 miles above the southern Indian Ocean. For the record, that’s the closest any asteroid has ever gotten. It flew so close that the earth’s gravity actually changed it course by 45 degrees as it flew past.