US News

Asteroid heading our way day before presidential election

This year could end with a bang.

Scientists recently spotted an asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth — projected to hit a day before the presidential elections in November.

The flying space object, known as 2018VP1, is expected on Nov. 2, according to the Center for Near Objects Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A stock image of a meteorite from outer space near Earth.
iStockphoto

The asteroid is 6.5 feet in diameter, according to NASA data, and was first identified at the Palomar Observatory in California two years ago.

The space agency says there could be three potential impacts “based on 21 observations spanning 12.968 days, with the chance of a direct impact less than 1%.”