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The largest asteroid approaching Earth in 2021 will pass “close to our planet” at a distance of over two million kilometers without any risk of collision, but the event will allow astronomers to study this celestial body.
And the asteroid, which in 2001 was named “FO 32” and has a diameter of less than a kilometer, will pass at a speed of 124000124 thousand kilometers per hour, which is “faster than most asteroids” which pass near Earth, according to the US Space Agency (NASA).
The rocky body is scheduled to pass near the planet today, Sunday at 16:02 GMT. And it will be at a distance of two million 16 thousand 158 kilometers from Earth, which is five times greater than the distance between Earth and the Moon.
NASA said: “There is no risk of collision with our planet”, while experts from the Paris Observatory have confirmed that its course is “sufficiently known and disciplined” to make it possible to exclude any danger .
However, the rocky body is classified as “somewhat dangerous”, like all asteroids whose orbit is less than 19.5 times the distance between Earth and the Moon and more than 140 meters in diameter.
The French Observatory said that this category “was relentlessly monitored by astronomers around the world to put the most precise details possible”, noting that the first – and the largest – asteroid, which is Ceres, was discovered in 1801.
The asteroid “FO 32” was first detected in 2001 and has been under close surveillance ever since.
It is part of the “Apollo” family of near-Earth asteroids that will orbit the sun in at least a year from now and may cross Earth orbit.
“Currently, we don’t know much about this object, so its passage will give us a wonderful opportunity to learn a lot about it,” said Lance Penner, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Thrust Center’s Near-Earth Object Center said, “It is assumed that astronomy enthusiasts in the southern hemisphere and at lower northern latitudes will be able to see the asteroid.”
“We will have to wait until night and be equipped with a good telescope with a diameter of at least 20 centimeters,” said Florent Delphi of the Paris Observatory, explaining that “we should see a white point moving like a artificial satellite. “
Its path is different from the path of meteors, which form a bright line in the sky, in tenths of a second.
NASA has said that none of the large asteroids will reach Earth in the next century. But she added: “The more information we collect about these crimes, the better we can prepare to expel them in case any of them threaten Earth.”
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