It's 2020, So Let's Have an Asteroid: Creepy Oregon Coast Science

Published 08/24//20 at 6:11 AM PDT
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Manzanita, Oregon) – Sure, why not? It’s 2020 after all, a year that’s like 365 days worth of Friday the 13ths. Let’s throw a scary asteroid into the mix.

NASA recently released information about a small asteroid that will come unusually close to Earth the day before Election Day – November 2. It’s called 2018VP1, one of hundreds of near-Earth objects (NEO) that NASA is tracking, in the hopes of spotting astronomical trouble well ahead of time.

This one was discovered way back in 2018, according to NASA. While it’s relatively small (about six and a half feet in diameter), it’s made close flybys before, such as back in 2018 when it was about 280,000 miles away from Earth.

What’s slightly unsettling about this one is that it’s expected to whiz past our home planet a mere 3,100 miles away, razor-thin by space margins. Because of this, NASA has predicted there’s about a 1 in 240 chance (0.41 percent) it could hit Earth on the day before election day.

Luckily, NASA has reiterated that since it’s so small it would likely – the key here is “likely” - disintegrate in the Earth’s atmosphere. They didn't rule it out, again putting the "nasty" in this asteroid.

Still, NASA has reportedly plotted three main possible impact points on Earth if it were to survive entry into the atmosphere. That was first reported by CNN and so far NASA has not returned comment to any news media on which places it looked at.

So, for now, as far as Oregon Coast Beach Connection knows there’s no threat to the Oregon coast or Washington coastline. And certainly there’s no evidence an alien race sent it hurtling at us packed with explosives (yes, we’re referring to Stargate: SG1).

Then again, it is 2020. So why not throw the Go'auld in there too?

In any case, NASA has emphasized even if it hit Earth there’s no chance of large-scale damage. In fact, with two thirds of the planet covered by ocean, there’s a decent chance anything that made it through our skies would find itself taking a good swim.

Which again brings us back to the Oregon coast. Hmmmm.

There is an entire network of eyes and equipment above us and around us keeping a lookout for dangerous asteroid impact possibilities. After all, extinction level events have happened before because of this, such as the demise of the last run of dinosaurs. One of those satellites is called NEOWISE, which discovered the comet that graced the skies of Oregon, Washington and the coastlines last month.

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Below: photos of Comet NEOWISE last month / Oregon Coast Beach Connection

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