If it’s really going to happen on April 29, 2020 should we be concerned? And where would the meteorite fall and how big would the damage be? I really have a lot of questions about this.
Answer
No, not at all.
The asteroid (not a meteorite) will approach Earth on that date to within 6.3 million kilometers, which is still 16 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. The orbit of this asteroid is very well known because it was discovered 22 years ago. By counting the job back in time, she could even be found on recordings from 1987, so that they could follow her job for 33 years. The longer we can observe an object, the more accurately its trajectory can be determined and thus the more certain the calculations for its future trajectory are.
The next closer passage is in 2079 with a distance from Earth of 1.8 million km. Between 2020 and 2079 there are three more approaches but at a greater distance than that of 2020.
So, no problem at all. It will also be far too faint to be seen with the naked eye.
Answered by
prof.dr. Paul Hellings
Department of Mathematics, Fac. IIW, KU Leuven
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
.