An asteroid had been expected to hit earth in mid-February 2020.

An official tweet by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Asteroid Watch disproves the statement.

An official tweet by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Asteroid Watch disproves the statement.The Proto Thema news article had stated that the asteroid (163373 or 2002 PZ39) spotted by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), is expected to come close to earth’s orbit on 15 February 2020.

As per NASA's Asteroid Radar Research report, the asteroid 2002 PZ39 was discovered on 10 August 2002 by LINEAR program. It had stated that the asteroid would approach within 0.039 au (Astronomical Unit) on 15 February 2020.

However, NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office said in a tweet that the news was incorrect, and that, the asteroid would pass the Earth at a distance of 5.77 million km (3.59 million miles), about 15 times the distance of the Moon, and would not come as close as mentioned in reports.

Therefore, the asteroid was not headed towards the earth's surface.