KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 ― The National Space Agency (Angkasa) has sought to set the record straight over reports that an asteroid is due to hit the Earth on February 1, explaining that no such thing will happen.
“Angkasa would like to stress that the news is not true,” it said in a statement.
The agency said the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has discovered the asteroid labelled 2002 NT7 since 2002, and calculated that the risk of collision was less than 1 per cent.
“However, with repeated monitoring and calculation, the probability of the asteroid colliding with Earth is miniscule and almost impossible,” it said.
“From the result of a review and thorough study, Angkasa also confirms that the asteroid will not hit Earth on February 1 as reported.”
It also urged the public to not be influenced by viral articles and be more careful in sharing information.
2002 NT7 was discovered in February 2002, and was removed from Nasa’s risk table in August that year itself.
The 2km-wide asteroid spends most of its time far above or below the rest of the solar system.
Every 2.29 years, however, the asteroid plunges through the inner solar system not far from Earth’s orbit.
The closest 2002 NT7 will come to earth is on January 13 where it will do a fly-by of over 61 million km away.
