November 2, 2020?
Photo: Scientific Photo Library – ANDRZEJ / Getty Images
Increasingly, when I consider the fact that we are only two months old and changing from one of (if not the) heaviest and most secure elections in the history of the nation, I have to pause what I do to satisfy heavy breathing; small shrill fright; and sat in the shower. The stakes have dropped and the memories of Election Night 2016 are terribly fresh. Bludgeon me, I whisper to this universe in these moments. Do what you have to do, just do not show me back again.
You know, please, an asteroid delivering Earth to Earth before the 2020 election is not what I had in mind, and I’m sorry. I thought some more slept on the side of a long easy time, or was stuck in the fish tube and forgotten in 2021 / forgotten. But according to CNN, a possible impact event is what we get instead. The chances of collision are slim, but still.
Asteroid 2018VP1 measures about 6.5 feet across, and was discovered in 2018. According to the Center for Near Earth Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it will come close to Earth on November 2nd. NASA has calculated the chance of a strike at about 0.41 percent, and does not believe that 2018VP1 will bring the end of days. Nevertheless, we must consider the evidence.
A brief overview of some bad omens we’ve seen in recent months: a plague of killer insects; actual, infected pests (assorted); apocalyptic weather events such as monster hail, flash floods, and “firenados”; a black river of molten sludge flowing through Arizona; rodents rising from the sewers to take over our cities; the moon actively distances itself from us, for which reason I think are obvious. Sure, the planet already got a pass on a much larger space rock that zoomed in April, but an asteroid ended before 2020? At this point, it feels a bit on the nose.
