The September 2015 Asteroid
Viral Posts: Asteroid to Hit Near Puerto Rico Between Sept. 15 and 28, 2015. NASA: 'Not One Shred of Evidence'
Blogs promised an impact 'evidently' near Puerto Rico and wanton destruction across the Americas. The window closed with the Atlantic undented.
What was claimed (paraphrase)
An asteroid would hit Earth sometime between Sept. 15 and 28, 2015, near Puerto Rico, causing wanton destruction to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. (Paraphrase of the rumour as NASA described it.)
— Viral blog and web posts, 2015 · said 2015 · due September 15-28, 2015
September 15-28, 2015 passed without an impact near Puerto Rico or anywhere else.
The Story
General attribution: the rumour had no single owner.
NASA's Paul Chodas said: 'There is no scientific basis -- not one shred of evidence -- that an asteroid or any other celestial object will impact Earth on those dates' and 'If there were any object large enough to do that type of destruction in September, we would have seen something of it by now.'
Receipts
- NASA: There is No Asteroid Threatening Earth - NASA JPL (August 19, 2015)accessed 2026-09-29