‘Dangerous’ high speed twice that of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, will shower past Earth next month, NASA reveals
- The asteroid – 231937 (2001 FO32) – was first discovered by astronauts in 2001
- It will be about 1.2 million miles from Earth at its closest point in March
- This is about five hours longer than the Moon but is still considered a threat
- The rock travels around the sun every 2.22 years on Earth at about 77,000mph
- Potentially dangerous is any large distance that comes within 4.5 million miles of the Earth and that could hit the planet at some point in the solar system in the future. future
A huge distance a mile twice the size of the tallest building in the world will shower over Earth in March and NASA got the nickname ‘dangerous’.
The asteroid, named 231937 (2001 FO32), is unlikely to hit Earth because it will be 1.2 million miles from the planet – five times farther out from the Moon.
However, NASA is blackening any space rock that comes within 93 million miles of our ‘Near Earth Object’, which is three-quarters of the distance 120 million miles to Mars.
The half-mile-wide space rock will make its way closest to our planet at around 16:03 GMT on March 21, 2021 and has been identified as ‘potentially dangerous’ because it hits the planet at some point in the future solar system.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock approaching Earth this year and at 1.7km it is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth – the Burj Khalifa.
The asteroid should be visible through an eight-inch opening telescope just after sunset on March 21 by looking just above the southern horizon.
Asteroid 231937 is the largest space rock approaching Earth this year and at 1.7km it is more than twice the size of the tallest building on Earth – the Burj Khalifa
NASA blacks out any space rock coming within 93 million miles of us as ‘Near Earth Object’, which is three-quarters of the distance 120 million miles to Mars
The asteroid was first discovered in 2001 by a series of telescopes in New Mexico that are part of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program.
The MIT project is funded by the U.S. Air Force and NASA and discovered the space rock on March 23, 2001 and has been under observation ever since.
Using these observations astronomers measured its orbit, found its proximity to Earth and decided it would go at 77,000mph.
SpaceReference.org wrote of the asteroid: ‘Given its light exposure, the 2001 FO32 appears to be between 0.767 to 1.714 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than ~ 97% of asteroids but small compared to large asteroids. ‘
The asteroid and Earth can be seen to the left of this orbital map on the ‘blue’ Earth orbit line – the orbit of the asteroid can be seen through the high white lines
The asteroid should be visible through an eight-inch opening telescope just after sunset on March 21 by looking just above the southern horizon. The pink dot is the asteroid and the lightest area is the skies seen from the UK on March 21 after sunset.
The space rock may be visible as it erupts past the planet in March if you have a telescope with an opening of at least eight inches.
The asteroid is low in the southern skies, so it can be difficult to see from the northern hemisphere, according to EarthSky.org.
To find it look just above the horizon in the southern skies it moves 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 morning if viewed from the southern US.
NASA is closely monitoring all Asteroids near Earth to see if any could come close to hitting the planet.
A mile-long distance twice the world’s tallest building – the Burj Khalifa (pictured) – will ski past Earth in March
It is a broad definition – covering anything within about 93 million miles of the Earth – the so-called ‘dangerous’ ones come within 4.6 million miles and are co. -at least 500 feet wide.
Asteroids are not currently a major threat to life on Earth for at least the next century, according to NASA, with only one with a 0.2 percent chance of hitting the planet in 2185.
In the meantime, space agencies around the world are exploring possible solutions for destroying a future asteroid from hitting Earth.
NASA has looked at using gravity from a flying spacecraft to drag an ‘asteroid’ to a new orbit.
Astronauts hunt for asteroids larger than 450 feet as they can cause ‘catastrophic damage’
Researchers have discovered most of the asteroids that are about a kilometer in size, but are now on the hunt for those around 459 feet (140m) – because they could cause great damage.
While no-one knows when the next big impact will come, scientists have been under pressure to predict – and prevent – it.
Artist’s impression of the painting
‘Sooner or later we’ll get … big or small,’ said Rolf Densing, head of the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) in Darmstadt
It may not happen in our lives, he said, but ‘the risk of the Earth being hit in a devastating event one day is very high. ‘
‘For now, there’s not much we can do.’
Source: AFP