Scientists estimate that the asteroid is between 1,300 and 2,230 feet wide.
The nearest-Earth planet, known as 2001-FO32, will, during its closest approach, be 1.25 million miles or five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
It will move even faster than most of the asteroids flying through our planet, rocketing at 77,000 miles per hour.
The closest approach to the asteroid will be on Sunday at 12:03 p.m.
“There is no danger of colliding with our planet now or for centuries to come,” according to a release from NASA.
“We know the orbit of the 2001 FO32 around the Sun very accurately, since it was discovered 20 years ago and has been explored ever since,” said Paul Chodas, director of Center-Near Earth Ject Project Studies. “The planet is unlikely to come closer than 1.25 million miles to Earth.”
The center is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Although the 2001 FO32 will not come close enough to cause any danger, it is still considered a potentially dangerous asteroid given its proximity. The Center for New Earth ject budget studies detects and predicts such for objects using telescopes and radar to determine if they are likely to have an impact on Earth.
This asteroid is moving faster than others due to its angular and elongated orbit around the Sun. This orbit is twice as close to the Sun as Mercury, the closest planet to our solar system, and to Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun.
When the 2001 FO32 approaches the inner solar system, it picks up speed. Once it kicks back into deep space, it will slow down. Asteroids take 810 days to complete one orbit, but its next closest pass through Earth will not happen again until 2052.
If you have a telescope, depending on where you live, you will see asteroids passing by.
“The asteroid will be bright when it passes through the southern sky,” Chodas said. “Amateur astronomers in the Southern Hemisphere and lower northern latitudes should be able to see the planet using a medium-sized telescope with a hole of at least 8 inches in the night, leading to closer approaches, but they will probably need star charts to find it.”
Opportunity to observe
A closer look is one of the best opportunities for scientists to observe the rest of the solar system. During the flyby, they can improve the size and composition details of the planet. The agency’s infrared telescope facility at Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano is a telescope that will be used to observe the planet.
“We are trying to do geology with a telescope,” said Vishnu Reddy, an associate professor at the Moon and Planets Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “We’re going to get infrared spectrum to look at its chemical makeup using a (telescope). Once we know that, we can compare it to the meteors on Earth to find out what minerals are in the 2001 FO32.”
Learning the formation of an asteroid will reveal more about its history.
Three ground radio recipes in California, Australia, Australia and Spain, including the Deep Space Network, can be used to bounce radio signals from asteroids. These radars can provide observations, such as whether an asteroid has its own moon.
LP Banner, JPL’s chief scientist, said: “Observations from 20 years ago have shown that about 15% of the Earth’s asteroids are small in size, comparable in size to the 2001 FO32,” said Lance Banner, JPL’s chief scientist. “Currently very little is known about this object object, so a very close encounter provides an excellent opportunity to learn a great deal about this asteroid.”
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