One of the largest recorded asteroids passed near Earth – Telam

With a diameter of nearly one kilometer and a speed of 124,000 kilometers per hour, a massive asteroid arrived on Sunday around 13 in Argentina at its closest point to Earth, according to NASA.

It’s around 2001 FO32, the largest asteroid orbiting near Earth this year that “will give astronomers a unique opportunity to get a good look at the rocky remnants that formed at the dawn of our solar system.”According to information from the US Space Agency.

The asteroid passed about two million kilometers, which is five times the distance between Earth and the moon.“

Like any other asteroid with a diameter of more than 140 meters and its approach is 19.5 times less than that distance. The 2001 FO32 was rated by professionals as “Potentially Dangerous”.

However, NASA made it clear “There is no danger of colliding with our planet now or for centuries to come.”

“We know the 2001 FO32 orbital path around the sun very accurately, as it was detected 20 years ago and has been tracked since,” said Paul Chodas, director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS). By NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“There is no possibility that the asteroid will approach Earth for a distance of more than two million kilometers.”El cientfico agrees.

According to estimates, An asteroid travels at a speed “faster than most asteroids” orbiting near our planet.

After passing close to Earth, 2001 FO32 will continue its lonely journey and will not approach our planet again until 2052, when it passes seven lunar distances, or 2.8 million kilometers.

More than 95% of near-Earth asteroids size 2001 FO32 or larger have been detected, tracked, and indexed.“

None of the large asteroids in the catalog have any chance of hitting Earth during the next century, and it is extremely unlikely that any undiscovered asteroids of this size will be able to hit Earth.

However, efforts continue to discover all asteroids that could pose a collision risk.

The more information that can be gathered about these objects, the better mission designers can prepare to put them away if one of them threatens Earth in the future.

On January 1, 1801, Ceres, the first near-Earth asteroid, was discovered from an observatory in Palermo (Italy). Since then, astronomers around the world have sought to classify these types of objects.

NASA reports that more than 95% of near-Earth asteroids size 2001 FO32 or greater have been detected, tracked, and indexed.