It is indisputable: 2020 was a rather rocky year and, despite a glimmer of hope, 2021 did not start much better. We are still trapped in the midst of a global pandemic, the government is more focused on cracking down on activists than resolving the climate crisis it is protesting, and according to NASA, a potentially dangerous asteroid will pass uncomfortably to Earth.
Specifically, Asteroid 2001 FO32 will float around the planet on March 21. Moving at just under 77,000 miles per hour and measuring about a kilometer in diameter, it will be the largest and fastest known asteroid to pass so close in 2021.
So, is it time to dig the underground bunker or give up completely and go to a quarantine rave, because who cares about COVID in the face of a disappearance event? Not exactly, explains Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer and professor of astrophysics at Queen’s University Belfast.
“An impact of a small asteroid, 200-300 m wide, could destroy a small state or country,” he says. “An asteroid over a kilometer or more could produce climate effects around the globe, which could lead to severe food shortages, plus, of course, devastation near the point of impact.”
This doesn’t sound very reassuring, but he adds that there is no need to worry about the Asteroid 2001 FO32: “The good thing is that because of the observations made by many astronomers, we know that it cannot reach us in the next 200 years. years. Although it will have close approaches at the time – such as March 22, 2052 – they actually provide useful opportunities to study large asteroids close to Earth and learn more about them, “and we can do it without worries.”
In fact, we seem to have been relatively safe from asteroid threats for some time. According to Fitzsimmons: “NASA-funded research has now discovered almost all of those larger asteroids and determined that they are not a risk for the next few centuries.” Now, he adds, it’s important to focus on smaller asteroids: “find them and find out where they’re going.” Asteroids that have the chance to pass through the atmosphere and hit the earth get closer to the moon about every five to 10 years.
We can consider ourselves lucky that Asteroid 2001 FO32 will leave us unharmed on March 21, but if you want to see it fly in the night sky? Unfortunately – “or fortunately!” Fitzsimmons notes – you won’t see much unless you have access to a decent telescope. “At the closest approach, it will still be two million kilometers from us and will be 100,000 times weaker than the faintest stars you can see with your own eyes.”
Because the asteroid moves so fast, observers with telescopes may have a chance to detect its motion – mapped with distant stars – in real time.