What The Media Gets Wrong About Asteroids — Why You Shouldn’t Be Scared

This month, we have seen many near Earth asteroid “scares,” including one set to pass Earth around 4:51pm EST today. This is the closest this asteroid will be to Earth for at least 200 years. The closest it will get to Earth is 1.2 million miles from the surface, further than our own Moon. In other words, this asteroid is of zero concern.

Image of comet Neowise during its closest approach to Earth. Credit: Justin W on Unsplash.

What is interesting about these asteroids, called Near Earth Objects (NEOs) is that none of them have ever been a real danger to the planet since we began tracking them. In fact, NASA states that there are no known asteroids that pose an actual threat to Earth for at least the next 100 years. Despite this, the media still insists on fearmongering when it comes to NEOs.

Headlines like “giant 1km asteroid DANGEROUSLY close to Earth next week, NASA warns” and “a ‘potentially hazardous’ asteroid more than twice the size of the Empire State Building will make close pass by Earth” come up with just a quick search on Google.

These headlines build a false narrative designed to make people scared enough to click. In reality, hardly any of these asteroids even come closer to Earth than the Moon (which sits at a comfortably far distance of around 385,000 km away).