The news is slowly widespreading over the Internet… According to the DailyMail online, a “self-proclaimed astronomer”,ย Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, predicts that an asteroid will crash on the Earth on February 16th, 2017, creating a mega-tsunami…

The asteroid is known: 2016 WF9, an Apollo-type asteroid, was discovered by NEOWISE (Near Earth Object Wide field Infrared Survey Explorer) on November 27th, 2016, and its size is currently estimated to be around 400 m diameter. It will cross the ecliptic plane in mid-February, but according to modelizations, based on 61 past observations of the small body, it will be 53 millions of kilometers from our planet on February 16th… and will actually at its closest point to the Earth 9 days later, on February 25th, but always at a respectful distance of more than 51 millions of kilometers. So be sure everybody will be safe on February 16th! Or at least, if anything happens, it won’t have anything to do with asteroids! Or at least, not this one!

Relative positions in 3D of the inner Solar System plantes and the asteroid 2016 WF9 on February 16th (Doomsday, according to Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich) and February 25th (closest approach), 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL

Relative positions in 3D of the inner Solar System planets and the asteroid 2016 WF9 on February 16th (Doomsday, according to Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich) and February 25th (closest approach), 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL

What is real, on the other hand, is that another small asteroid (5 to 10 m diameter), 2017 BH30, was discovered on January 29th, 2017 by the Catalina Sky Survey, and came as close as 35 000 km from the Earth surface on January 30th, 04h 59 UT. It was around +13.6mag at that time. The same visual magnitude as another small rock (2017 BS32) that will pass at 150 000 km from Earth surface tomorrow (February 2nd, 2017), so 4 times further than 2017 BH30, but as it is a bit bigger (10 to 20 m diameter), it is brighter, so appears nearly as bright as the previous one.

Near Earth asteroid 2017 BH30 hotographed by Gianluca Masi, at the time it was 500 000 km, on a safe approach trajectory. At that time, the asteroid had an apparent speed of 36"/minute! Credit: Gianluca Masi, The Virtual Telescope Project

Near Earth asteroid 2017 BH30 photographed by Gianluca Masi, at the time it was 500 000 km, on a safe approach trajectory. At that time, the asteroid had an apparent speed of 36″/minute! Credit: Gianluca Masi, The Virtual Telescope Project

Again, no need to worry about that! The best it could lead to, is a wonderful sight at those small bodies, that are so close to us that you can actually see them moving across the still starry sky (in an astronomical instrument). And if one of them comes close enough to enter the atmosphere (this was only observed twice before, with 2008 TC3 and 2014 AA), then it would be a dramatic display for observers lucky enough to be able to see it, as it will lead to a wonderful fireball, and potential meteorite hunting!

64 comments

  • True, I was praying to god to save the Earth like crazy!! No asteroid will come, are you serious??!! YAY!!!! THANK JESUS WE GET TO LIVE

    Reply to Jairus Ramos
    • Karl Antier

      Dear kain,

      There is no reason the gravitation can pull it in direction of our planet, and the probability 2016 WF9 hits the Earth tomorrow is… 0%…

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
    • Incorrect it’ll pass closer to the moon than it wI’ll to us our gravitational pull will have next to no effect to the asteroid the moon and jupiter however could and if they do they’ll only pull it away from us further or slingshot it into another direction (nowhere near us)

      Reply to Luke
      • Karl Antier

        Dear Luke,

        I do not fully understand your comment, but from what I read and understand, it seems you did not properly read the article.
        2016 WF9 will not pass closer than the Moon, as its closest approach will be 51 millions of kilometers from the Earth, which is… 1/3 of the Earth-Sun distance and more than 130 times the Earth-Moon distance!
        And as you see, the doomsday was predicted on February 16th, and today is 19th, and it seems everybody is OK… Or at least, no one has been killed by an asteroid impact or a giant tsunami.

        Best wishes,
        Karl

  • Ughh I’m sucha paranoid, I can’t stop worrying about tomorrow . Is this true I’m fricken scared here ๐Ÿ™ !! wish I didn’t read about it After seeing on the internet?! . everywhere it’s saying earth going get hit ? Please tell me it’s not true ! I’m also hydroelectric I believe everything I read/see. ๐Ÿ™

    Reply to Cola
  • Ughh Iโ€™m sucha paranoid, I canโ€™t stop worrying about tomorrow . Is this true Iโ€™m fricken scared here !! wish I didnโ€™t read about it After seeing on the internet?! . everywhere itโ€™s saying earth going get hit ? Please tell me itโ€™s not true ! Iโ€™m also hydroconreact I believe everything I read/see.

    Reply to Cola
    • Karl Antier

      Sorry for the late answer, Cola, but as you see, nothing happened 48h ago…
      So, as we insured people, there was no reason to be worried about anything! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • Hi Karl,

        Besides NASA covering up many things, which direction is WF9 coming by the earth from at its closest approach vector?
        Also, if it was to hit the earth and was miscalculated being much closer than 51M, where would you estimate touchdown, Pacific or Atlantic Ocean based on NASA measurements?

        Thx

      • Karl Antier

        Dear Sam,

        There is no way I can easily answer your question, as 2016 WF9 asteroid is definitely not in a collision trajectory with the Earth. Relative to the Earth’s orbital plane, the asteroid seems to come from the South, but that’s the only things we can say, as the Earth is too far away for us to give a “closest approach vector”.
        And the mistake to make 2016 WF9 closer than 51 millions kilometers and hit the Earth is so big, that if it was the case, then:
        1- we should revise all our mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics models, which proves until now being correct,
        2- it could it the Earth anywhere (just a small shift in the angle would make the asteroid hit on the opposite sides of the Earth)

        Best wishes,
        Karl

      • Okay thankyou ๐Ÿ˜‰
        I’m just going stop reading everything I see haha !! X
        Glad I found this website…
        ๐Ÿ™‚ <3

  • Will it hit earth at all? Im seriously crying and scared. Im pregnant and im scared that i won’t even be able to hold my baby around September. There are many theories and i don’t know what to believe

    Reply to Smith
    • Karl Antier

      Again, sorry for the late answer Smith, but I hope the previous answers helped you realizing there was nothing to worry about!
      And as you can see today, we were right about that! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • Well truthfully i know where im yea ed so im scared to die but if its going to hit earth on the 25th then so be it. There is no reason to be scared of something you have no control over.

      • Karl Antier

        And trust me, Marc, there is no reason to be scared about something that will not happen ๐Ÿ˜‰

      • Karl Antier

        Again, Soma, no need to worry about anything!
        Go out, have a walk, and you will see today will be like yesterday, and we will be able to discuss tomorrow ๐Ÿ˜‰

        Karl

  • Whoever believed this is stupid and a sheep. It was just yet another false flag to see how the public would react. Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich never even existed until just recently anyways.

    Reply to Jacob
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Jacob,

      Unfortunately, it’s sometimes hard for some people that are no-scientific to make the pro and the cons from the news that sometimes appear for unknown reasons on the Internet, whether they prove to be exact or completely false…
      This is why we made a short note on this one, hoping it would help the few that would have the real interest in knowing what was (not) going on. But even then, they need to trust us, which is sometimes harder compared to someone who would be named Dr Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, which looks too perfect for a scientist name to be real ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
  • I was so worried about the 16th of February. I wish I’d seen your information sooner. Can you tell me if I will be able to see wf9 with the naked eye from Sydney, Australia on the 25th of February or will I require a telescope? Cheers

    Reply to Linda
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Linda,

      The good news is that you will now know where to have a look to have some more scientific information on such topics!
      Unfortunately, 2016 WF9 won’t be visible with the naked eye, and a big instrument will be required to observe it, as it will absolutely not come close to our planet!

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • Dear Karl,
        Thank you for your reply. I am relieved and don’t mind so much that it can’t be seen as that means it won’t be close. Do you have any thoughts on whether Nibiru exists and is going to affect the Earth or do you think this is only the stuff of myth? Do you think there is any truth to the story of the vatican having knowledge of Nibiru and the recent claim that they tried to stop Donald Trump exposing the truth? The speculation has been that wf9 is a fragment that was pushed out by the Nibiru system and that the planet Nibiru will cut through our solar system. Thank you for your time.
        Regards,
        Linda

      • Karl Antier

        Dear Linda,

        In my own opinion, do not worry anymore about Nibiru and other myths! There are much more terrestrial things we should worry much more (and human is in a good position for that). Today, from a scientific point of view, nothing correlates the potential existence of Nibiru. 2016 WF9 has nott been pushed to the Earth by Nibiru, as its orbit shows it has the same orbit for millions of years! So nothing to deal with Nibiru…
        So please do not worry, and if you consider watching all asteroid, and Solar system events with a non-ctastrophic approach, you’ll see this planetary system is just fantastic, and it’s better admiring it than fearing it!

        Best wishes,
        Karl

    • Karl Antier

      Dear Jacek,

      On February 25th, 2017, as stated in the article, 2016 WF9 will be more than 51 millions of kilometers away from the Earth, which 1/3 of Earth-Sun distance.
      So impact probability is 0.
      And we won’t be able to see anything.

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
  • What about the asteroid that was said to hit in august , september or October 2017 ? I am really parannoid , & all these Theories is not happening .

    Reply to Sweetie
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Sweetie,

      I did not hear about any asteroid going to hit the Earth in August, September, nor October 2017. So if you have further information about that, please tell us, and I’ll check. But knowing I do not know anything about it, and that I did not hear anything about this, although we are a lot involved in asteroids, means this is very very very very probably a false information, and thus you should not worry about (as all the previous wrong alerts showed us)…

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • Thanks god. I read also an article about asteroid touchdown this coming June ang aug. I’m afraid to cuz we are near to the pacefec ocean so it means we are the prone area. Thanks Karl 4 d info pls. Update us in case.
        God bless..

  • Is there anyway we can make it come closer to earth? or hit us? Please…..Call it population control

    Reply to David
    • Karl Antier

      Dear david,

      No, there is actually no way to do so.
      And last night, another asteroid, 2017 DG16 came as close as 137 000 km from the Earth (which is 0.4 the Earth-Moon distance), and no one noticed anything, no one diverted it, so be safe, that won’t happen.
      2016 WF9 will be 51 millions of km away, so that’s more than 370 times the distance between us and 2017 DG16 last night…

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
  • Thank you Karl. I appreciate your comments re wf9 and Nibiru. There seems to be a lot of misinformation on the internet. I am very interested to know – it says you are the webmaster for this site but I was also wondering if you are an astronomer? Clearly you are very knowledgeable.
    Kind Regards,
    Linda

    Reply to Linda
    • Karl Antier

      You’re welcome, Linda!
      I’m actually not a professional astronomer, even if we sometimes collaborate with professional ones. I guess I’m more an adverted amateur astronomer, but professional geophysicist, and currently working as astronomy mediator, if it can help you convincing all what scientific information we publish is carefully and properly checked!

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • Thank you Karl. I am certain that you are very thorough. I appreciate your assistance.
        Kind Regards,
        Linda

  • Im really worried that the asteroid will hit earth tomorrow, and I have read some articles saying it will, and others saying it wont, I am scared, I dont know what to believe

    Reply to Arianna
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Arianna,

      Well, if I can give you an advice, believe us ๐Ÿ˜‰
      Last night, a small asteroid (2017 DR34) came as close as 220 000 km from the Earth, and I guess you did not notice it. 2016 WF9 will be 51 000 000 kilometers, which is 230 times further!

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
  • Hello
    Mr. Antier, I have three questions because I’m afraid that some meteorite can hit the ground in October and if there is a planet x? And I have such a question, or how will the eclipse of the sun or jupiter be in the star of the bride?

    Reply to Jacek
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Jacek,

      Please don’t be worry about anything falling on Earth in October, as such prediction is based on nothing. From what we currently know, nothing is expected to impact our planet in October.
      There may be a theoritical 9th planet in the Solar Sytem, but for the moment, it is not proved, nor observed, and it should not send any mass amount of asteroids or transneptunian objects into the inner Solar system, so, again, nothing to worry about.
      Last, the Sun eclipse on August 21st, 2017 will just be a wonderful event, nothing to worry about ; you just need to use appropriate visual protections to observe the Sun.

      So do not worry, go on living, and do not trust all rubbishes that are posted all over the Internet!
      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Jacek,

      Please trust me: you should not worry about anything coming from space right now! I don’t know where you got all those information, but for the moment, nothing to worry about!

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Steve,

      I don’t know where your information comes from, but I do not think anything will happen tomorrow. Or at least anything coming from space. We will thus see if people are always able to answer from England tomorrow night! But I’m 100% sure they will!

      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
  • Does anyone e,se have the repetiti e drawings of circlels looping as if rotati g arou d earth. Also tonight it feels as if a agnet is pulling eveythi g to earth.

    Reply to steve
  • So I’ve been reading this theory that planet x would hit earth in October 2017, do you think thats true? Because if it is I gotta party it up in September

    Reply to Steven
    • Karl Antier

      Dear Steven,

      This information is based on nothing, do not worry.
      No object is predicted to impact the Earth in the coming days/weeks/months/years, and no planet X is on an impact trajectory with our planet!

      So you can peacefully go on, nothing astronomically catastrophic is predicted!
      Best wishes,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier
      • you do no Planet X is not an object its a planet full of mystery dick ohhhhh sorry pardon my language meant to say dummy

    • Karl Antier

      Dear Khang,

      Absolutely not.
      First, Nibiru, or Planet X, has not yet been discovered, so we do not know what its orbit is.
      Second, if it exists, it would be a distant planet, so there is no reason it comes to impact ours.
      So don’t worry, Nibiru won’t impact our planet.

      Best regards,
      Karl

      Reply to Karl Antier

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