The biggest asteroid of 2021 is set to zoom past the planet at 9:00 pm on March 21 Indian Standard Time (IST).
The half-a-kilometre wide space rock was first spotted in 2001, but this time it will be ten times closer to Earth at a distance of 2 million kilometres.
The near-Earth object, dubbed 2001 FO32, will also be flying through faster than an average asteroid at 123,876 kilometres per hour.
The biggest asteroid of the year is set to fly past Earth tonight. The space rock, dubbed 2001 FO32, is nearly half a kilometre wide — that’s more than twice the height of India’s Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world.
Moreover, it will be closing in on the planet at a whopping speed of 123,876 kilometres per hour (kmph), which is faster than an average asteroid.
Details of asteroid 2001 FO32’s close approach:
Date and time
9:00 pm on March 21 Indian Standard Time (IST)
Distance from Earth
2 million kilometres
Speed of close approach
123,876 kilometres per hour
Size
Between 440 metres to 680 metres wide
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the asteroid doesn’t pose any threat to our planet. “There is no chance the asteroid will get any closer to Earth than 1.25 million miles [2 million kilometres]” said Paul Chodas, the director of The Centre for Near-Earth Objects Studies (CNEOS), in a statement.
Nonetheless, that’s close enough for 2011 FO32 to be put on NASA’s Asteroid Watchlist and be designated a ‘potentially hazardous asteroid’.
This diagram depicts the elongated and inclined orbit of 2001 FO32 as it travels around the Sun (white ellipse). Because of this orbit, when the asteroid makes its close approach to Earth, it will be travelling at an unusually fast speed of 124,000 kph.NASA/JPL-Caltech The 20-year old frenemy The CNEOS has been tracking this asteroid for nearly two decades since it was first spotted on 23 March 2001 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program.
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