AS IF 2020 hasn't been traumatic enough, an asteroid could hit Earth on the eve of the US Presidential Election on Tuesday.
The asteroid, named 2018VP1, measures just under two metres and poses no threat to Earth, but is a reminder that given the thousands of bodies that orbit near to the the planet, some could and do strike us.
Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, commented that the fridge-sized asteroid, discovered by the Palomar Observatory in California, may 'buzz-cut' the Earth on Tuesday, November 2.
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However he added, 2018VP1, which was discovered when it was 280,000 miles from Earth, was not big enough to cause any damage.
NASA calculates the asteroid has a 0.41 per cent chance of entering Earth's atmosphere, travelling at 25,000 miles per hour.
The closest ever recorded approach by an asteroid occurred on August 16 this year, when 2020 QG flew 1,830 miles above the southern Indian Ocean, burning up as it did so.
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