Looks like the ‘election day asteroid’ didn’t hit us after all

Oreo stowed it away Cookies in an asteroid-proof doomsday vault for nothing.

There was a lot of ado about the tiny asteroid 2018 VP1 and how his path would bring it very close to earth on November 2nd, the day before the contest US election. This timing earned him the nickname “Election Day Asteroid”, which is not exactly accurate.

It appears that the asteroid didn’t hang around long enough to leave its mark on the night sky. According to current data and observations, it passed and went its happy way.

The planetary astronomer Michael Busch published an update on Twitter on Monday. “Apparently nothing was seen on the infrasound and atmospheric flash monitors today,” he said.

Update on #2018VP1:

There was apparently nothing on the infrasound and atmospheric flash monitors today.

2018 VP1 has, as expected, flown past Earth. Still awaiting optical recovery from the asteroid-discovery surveys. https://t.co/G8rzHe6USj

— Michael Busch (@michael_w_busch) November 2, 2020

The asteroid only had a 0.41% chance of affecting the Earth’s atmosphere. The asteroid’s tiny size meant it was not a threat. In an October 30 update on the asteroid’s trajectory, astrodynamicist Allan Posner of the Asteroid Institute said it would look like “a very beautiful shooting star in the sky” if it happened to burn.

With no reports of a fireball, early signs seem to suggest that 2018 VP1 will see another day.

Earth was never in danger from the asteroid, but your planned visit to our neighborhood fitted in with the ongoing craziness of a year of political unrest and pandemic stress. It seems that 2018 VP1 made good sense of getting out of here from a safe distance.