The rocky body was discovered in March 2001 and its trajectory has been followed ever since.
The largest asteroid to approach Earth in 2021 will pass about two million kilometers away this Sunday, without the risk of a collision, but will allow astronomers to study this celestial object.
Named 2001 FO32 and less than a kilometer in diameter, it will exceed 124,000 km / h, “faster than most asteroids” orbiting Earth, according to NASA.
The rocky body will reach its closest point to our planet this Sunday at 16:02 GMT. Then it will be 2,016,158 km from Earth, which is about five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
“There is no risk of a collision with our planet,” the US space agency explained. Its trajectory is “sufficiently known and regular” to rule out any danger, experts from the Paris-PSL Observatory guarantee.
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However, the large rocky body is classified as “potentially dangerous”, as are all asteroids whose orbit is less than 19.5 times the distance between Earth and the Moon and whose diameter is greater than 140 meters.
Astronomers around the world are “tirelessly pursuing” this category to develop the most comprehensive inventory possible, the Observatory points out, recalling that the first (and largest) asteroid, Ceres, was discovered in 1801.
The asteroid “2001 FO32” was discovered in March 2001 and its trajectory has been followed ever since. It belongs to the “Apollo” family of geo-cruising asteroids, which orbits the Sun for at least a year and can cross Earth’s orbit.
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“Currently, we know little about this object, so this very close meeting gives us an incredible opportunity to learn a lot,” said Lance Benner, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. for Nearby Object Studies. of the Earth (CNEOS).
According to CNEOS, “amateur astronomers in the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes should be able to see it.”
“We should see a white dot moving like a satellite,” the astronomer added. The trajectory has nothing to do with that of shooting stars, very small asteroids that form a line of light that divides the sky in a split second.
None of the large cataloged asteroids have a chance of hitting Earth in the next century.
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