Is this giant asteroid on its way to annihilate Earth? An expert intervenes

It’s undeniable: 2020 has been a pretty difficult year and, despite some glimmers of hope, 2021 hasn’t started much better. We’re still locked in the middle of a global pandemic, the government is focused more on cracking down on activists than solving the climate crisis they are protesting, and – according to NASA – a potentially dangerous asteroid is about to pass. uncomfortably. down to earth.

Specifically, the asteroid 2001 FO32 will float above the planet on March 21. Traveling at just under 77,000 miles per hour and measuring around a kilometer in diameter, it will be the largest and fastest known asteroid to pass so close in 2021.

So, is it time to dig the underground bunker, or give up entirely and go on a quarantine rave, because who cares about COVID in the face of an extinction level event? Not exactly, says Alan Fitzsimmons, astronomer and professor of astrophysics at Queen’s University in Belfast.

“An impact from a small asteroid, say 200 to 300 m in diameter, could devastate a state or a small country,” he says. “An asteroid a kilometer or more in diameter could produce climatic effects around the world that could lead to severe food shortages, and of course devastation near the point of impact.

It doesn’t sound very reassuring, but he adds that there is no need to worry about the Asteroid 2001 FO32: “The good thing is that, thanks to the observations of many astronomers, we know that it does not. can’t hit us for at least 200 years. “While there will be close approaches around this time – like March 22, 2052 – these actually offer useful opportunities to study and learn about large near-Earth asteroids,” and we can do that without worry. “.

In fact, we appear to be relatively safe from asteroid threats for a while. According to Fitzsimmons: “NASA-funded research has now discovered almost all of these larger asteroids and determined that they do not pose a risk for the next two centuries.” Now, he adds, it is important to focus on the smaller asteroids: “to find them and know where they are going”. Asteroids that have a chance to pass through the atmosphere and make landfall pass us closer than the moon every five to ten years or so.

We may consider ourselves lucky that Asteroid 2001 FO32 leaves us unscathed on March 21, but what if you want to see it flying through the night sky? Unfortunately – “or fortunately!” Fitzsimmons notes – you won’t see much unless you have access to a decent telescope. “On the closest approach, it will still be two million kilometers from us and it will be 100,000 times fainter than the faintest stars you can see with the naked eye.”

Because the asteroid is moving so fast, observers with telescopes may have the chance to detect its movement – mapped against distant stars – in real time.