‘Doomsday Asteroid’ Won’t Hit Earth, Cause Mega-Tsunami, Or Wipe Out A City [Debunked]
Those reports suggesting that a “doomsday asteroid” will crash into Earth a few weeks from now, trigger a mega-tsunami, and maybe end up destroying a city are best-taken with a planet-sized grain of salt. That’s the general sentiment in the wake of a self-styled astronomer’s claim that such an egregious event will be taking place in mid-February.
The Daily Mail was one of the first publications to report on the so-called “doomsday asteroid,” which was originally spotted by NASA in 2016, and given the codename 2016 WF9. According to the U.S. space agency, the object isn’t a threat to Earth, and is expected to be 32 million miles away when it will be closest to our planet, on February 25. But a man named Dr. Dyomin Damir Zakharovich, who has alternately been referred to as a “self-proclaimed” or “self-styled” astronomer and “conspiracy theorist,” went on record this week to claim NASA is lying, and suggest that 2016 WF9 would actually hit our planet and cause disaster once it strikes, supposedly on February 16.
“The object they call WF9 left the Nibiru system in October when Nibiru began spinning counter clockwise around the sun. Since then, NASA has known it will hit Earth. But they are only telling people now.”
Zakharovich added that if the doomsday asteroid hits Earth as he believes, it could put humanity “in peril” as it may likely destroy cities or trigger a mega-tsunami.
What we would actually do to stop a #DoomsdayAsteroid #Science #Astronomy #FutureSurvival https://t.co/kqEsEb5Y0Z pic.twitter.com/bOMaJHVZc0
— Robert Sills (@robertnsills) May 15, 2016
A separate report from Metro also quoted Zakharovich on Wednesday, as the purported astronomer accused NASA of “lying through its teeth” to the public. He also claimed that the asteroid had gone rogue late last year, leaving the system of the so-called “death planet” Nibiru and heading straight toward Earth, something NASA allegedly knew about but withheld.
“The object they call WF9 left the Nibiru system in October when Nibiru began spinning counter clockwise around the sun. Since then, NASA has known it will hit Earth. But they are only telling people now.”
Such remarks are a stark contrast to NASA’s reassuring press release from last month, where the agency confirmed that 2016 WF9 was just spotted by its NEOWISE mission as an object that is somewhere “between asteroid and comet.” Over the span of almost five years in Earth time, the asteroid can pass by as far away from the sun as Jupiter’s orbit, and make a brief stopover inside Earth’s orbit. That’s when it returns to the outer solar system, and in the light of that, NASA believes that it won’t be anywhere near “doomsday asteroid” status.
“2016 WF9 will approach Earth’s orbit on Feb. 25, 2017. At a distance of nearly 32 million miles (51 million kilometers) from Earth, this pass will not bring it particularly close. The trajectory of 2016 WF9 is well understood, and the object is not a threat to Earth for the foreseeable future.”
There are also a few other reasons to doubt Dyomin Damir Zakharovich’s claims of a doomsday asteroid going rogue on a collision course with Earth, and possibly causing a mega-tsunami in the process. Snopes clarified that the “Nibiru system” pertains to a planet supposedly in the “outer reaches” of our solar system that has not been detected, and has been named after ancient Babylonian texts that were misinterpreted. Considering how far Nibiru may be away from Earth, should it exist, Snopes said that it would be impossible for an asteroid from its system to hit our planet in just four short months.
No at all! Should You Be Worried About The 'Death #Asteroid' Headed Towards #Earth? https://t.co/V2E5yE6FxR via @YahooNews
— gersariel (@gersariel1) January 28, 2017
Snopes also noted that the Daily Mail seemed to be doubting the existence of Zakharovich, as his name had only emerged online “in recent months” in connection to doomsday-related theories.
Does asteroid 2016 WF9 exist? NASA has confirmed it, and it definitely does. But is it a doomsday asteroid? Don’t even think of betting on it, and expect to wake up on February 17 with no reports of a mega-tsunami or any kind of cataclysmic disaster.
[Featured Image by NASA]
