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Scientists estimate the asteroid to be between 1,300 and 2,230 feet wide.
The near-Earth asteroid, known as 2001’s FO32, will be 1.25 million miles, more than five times the distance between Earth and the Moon, on its closest approach.
It will also move much faster than most of the asteroids that fly over our planet, moving at 77,000 miles per hour.
The closest approach to the asteroid will be at 12:03 p.m. ET on Sunday.
“There is no threat of collision with our planet now or for centuries to come,” according to a NASA statement.
“We know very precisely the orbital path of the 2001 FO32 around the Sun, since it was discovered 20 years ago and has been followed since,” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth. Object Studies, in a press release. “There is no chance that the asteroid will approach Earth within 1.25 million kilometers.”
The center is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Although 2001 FO32 does not get close enough to cause danger, it is still considered a potentially dangerous asteroid given its proximity. The Center for Near Earth Object Studies tracks and predicts the orbits of these objects, using telescopes and radars to determine if they have a chance of making an impact on Earth.
This asteroid moves faster than the others due to its tilted and elongated orbit around the sun. This orbit brings the asteroid closer to the sun than Mercury, the planet closest to the star in our solar system, and twice as far as Mars, the fourth planet from the sun.
As 2001 FO32 approaches the inner solar system, it picks up speed. Once it is sent back to deep space it will slow down. It takes 810 days for the asteroid to complete an orbit, but its next pass near Earth will not recur until 2052.
If you have a telescope, you may be able to see the asteroid pass by, depending on where you live.
“The asteroid will be the brightest as it moves across the southern sky,” Chodas said. “Amateur astronomers in the southern hemisphere and at lower northern latitudes should be able to see this asteroid using medium-sized telescopes with apertures of at least 8 inches at night leading to the closest approach. , but they’ll probably need star maps to find it. “
Observation opportunity
A close passage is a great opportunity for scientists to observe this residue from the formation of the solar system. During the flyby, they can refine the details of the size and makeup of the asteroid. The agency’s infrared telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano is one of the telescopes that will be used to observe the asteroid.
“We are trying to do geology with a telescope,” Vishnu Reddy, associate professor at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona at Tucson, said in a statement. “We’re going to use the (telescope) to get the infrared spectrum to see its chemical makeup. Once we find out, we can do comparisons with meteorites on Earth to find out which minerals 2001 FO32 contains.”
Learning the make-up of the asteroid would reveal more about its history.
Three satellite dishes on the ground in California, Australia and Spain, which make up the Deep Space Network, can be used to essentially send radio signals back to the asteroid. These can provide radar observations, for example if the asteroid has its own moon.
“Observations dating back 20 years have revealed that about 15% of near-Earth asteroids comparable in size to 2001 FO32 have a small moon,” Lance Benner, senior scientist at JPL, said in a statement. “Currently, little is known about this object, so the very close encounter offers an exceptional opportunity to learn a lot about this asteroid.”
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