Florida, United States.
The largest asteroid that will approach the Land in 2021 will pass about two million miles away on Sunday, March 21, without collision risk, but it will allow them astronomers study this celestial object more closely.
Baptized 2001 FO32 and less than a mile in diameter, it will pass to 124,000 km / h, “Faster than most asteroids “ circulating near the Earth, according to the NASA.
“There is no risk of collision with our planet “, explained the US space agency. At his point of greater approximation, the asteroid will still be at a distance of five times larger to the one between the Earth and the Moon.
A separation considered, however, close enough to be classified as “Potentially dangerous”, according to official categories.
The asteroid, known as the god of chaos, was discovered in March 2001 and his trajectory iis being followed since then.
“Currently, we know little about this object, so this upcoming meeting gives us an incredible opportunity to learn a lot” about it, said Lance Benner, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, on which the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).
By studying the light reflected by his surface, researchers will be able, for example, to get a better idea of its composition.
“Amateur astronomers in the southern hemisphere and low northern latitudes should be able to see this asteroids using telescopes of moderate size, “said Paul Chodas, director of CNEOS, quoted in a statement.
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None of the large cataloged asteroids have options crash into the Earth in the next century, and it is very unlikely that those who remain to discover will be able to do so, NASA reassured.
Still, he adds, “the more information we can gather about the objects, mission designers can best prepare to have them diverted once they get to threatening the Earth “.