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NASA: No Doomsday Asteroid Heading Our Way

This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Image credit: NASA
This view of Earth comes from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Image credit: NASA

No, an asteroid isn’t striking the Earth anytime soon.

In a response to a rumor gone viral, NASA wants to put people’s mind at ease.

Web and blog posts warn that an asteroid would slam into earth near Puerto Rico next month – devastating the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts.

NASA says – no way.

The Near-Earth Object office released a statement saying there is no scientific basis or shred of evidence that anycelestial body will impact earth.

In fact, there’s only a .01% chance that any potentially hazardous asteroid will hit earth in the next 100 years.

NASA detects and tracks asteroids and comets passing within 30-Million miles of earth.

This isn’t the first online rumor of an asteroid strike, and it probably won’t be the last.

You can can keep up with NASA’s asteroid tracking efforts - follow them on twitter: @AsteroidWatch

Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.