A huge ‘potentially dangerous’ asteroid twice the size of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, will dodge the Earth next month, NASA reveals
- The asteroid – 231937 (2001 FO32) – was first discovered by astronomers in 2001
- It will be about 1.2 million kilometers from Earth at its closest point in March
- It is about five times farther than the Moon, but is still classified as a risk
- The rock travels around the Sun every 2.22 Earth years at about 77,000 mph
- Potentially dangerous is any large asteroid that is less than 4.5 million kilometers from Earth and could “reach” the planet at some point in the future of the solar system.
A huge two-mile-sized asteroid the world’s tallest building will pass through Earth in March and has been dubbed “potentially dangerous” by NASA.
The asteroid, called 231937 (2001 FO32), is unlikely to reach Earth, as it is 1.2 million miles from the planet, five times farther than the Moon.
However, NASA removes any space rock that is less than 93 million kilometers from us as an “object close to Earth,” which is three-quarters of the distance of 120 million miles to Mars.
The half-kilometer-wide by half-mile-long space rock will make its closest approach to our planet at 16:03 GMT on March 21, 2021 and has been described as “potentially dangerous” because “it could” hit the planet at some point in the future of the solar system.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock to have approached Earth this year and, at 1.7 km, is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth: the Burj Khalifa.
It should be possible to see the asteroid through an eight-inch aperture telescope just after sunset on March 21 looking slightly above the southern horizon.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock to approach Earth this year and, at 1.7 km, is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth: the Burj Khalifa
NASA removes any space rock that is less than 93 million kilometers from an “object close to Earth,” which is three-quarters of the distance of 120 million miles to Mars
The asteroid was first detected in 2001 by a series of New Mexico telescopes that are part of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program.
The MIT project is funded by the United States Air Force and NASA and detected the space rock on March 23, 2001 and has been under observation ever since.
Using these observations, astronomers calculated its orbit, found how far it would reach Earth, and determined that it would go at 77,000 mph.
SpaceReference.org wrote about the asteroid: “Based on its brightness and the way it reflects light, the 2001 FO32 is probably between 0.767 and 1.714 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than ~ 97 % of asteroids, but small compared to large asteroids “.
The asteroid and Earth are seen to the left of this orbital map in the ‘blue’ orbit line of the Earth: the asteroid’s orbit is visible through the high white lines
It should be possible to see the asteroid through an eight-inch aperture telescope just after sunset on March 21 looking slightly above the southern horizon. The pink dot is the asteroid and the clearest area is the sky visible from the UK on March 21 after sunset
If you have a telescope with an opening of at least eight inches, you may see the space rock passing through the planet in March.
The asteroid will be low in the southern sky, so it can be difficult to detect from the northern hemisphere, according to EarthSky.org.
To find it, looking just above the horizon, the southern sky slides through the southern constellations of Scorpius and Sagittarius.
It will be visible just above the horizon in the southern sky just after sunset if viewed from the UK and just before dawn if viewed from the southern US.
NASA is monitoring all the asteroids in the Near Earth to determine if any of them can touch the planet.
A huge two-mile asteroid in the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (pictured in the center), will pass through Earth in March
It is a broad definition, covering any object about 93 million kilometers from Earth, those so-called “dangerous” reach 4.6 million miles and are at least 500 feet wide.
Currently, there are no asteroids that pose a significant risk to life on Earth for at least the next century, according to NASA, with only one having a 0.2% chance of hitting the planet in 2185.
Meanwhile, space agencies around the world are investigating possible solutions to deflect a future asteroid against Earth.
NASA has analyzed the use of the gravity of a flying spacecraft to “drag an asteroid” into a new trajectory.
Astronomers are looking for asteroids longer than 450 feet because they can cause “catastrophic damage”
Researchers have discovered most asteroids that are about a kilometer in size, but are now looking for those that are about 140 m long, as they could cause catastrophic damage.
Although no one knows when the next big impact will occur, scientists have come under pressure to predict and intercept its arrival.
Impression of the artist portrayed
“Sooner or later we will have … a greater or lesser impact,” said Rolf Densing, who heads the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt
It may not happen in our lives, he said, but “the risk of the Earth being affected in a devastating event one day is very high.”
“At the moment, there is little we can do.”
Source: AFP