On Sunday, an asteroid will be relatively close to Earth. According to researchers from the American space agency NASA the celestial body then flies past about 2 million kilometers at a speed of 124,000 kilometers per hour.
The asteroid, the 2001 FO32, has a diameter of several hundred meters and is the largest asteroid to come relatively close this year. The distance of 2 million kilometers is more than five times the distance from the moon to the Earth.
The asteroid can never get closer, NASA says. Researchers at the institute discovered the celestial body twenty years ago and have been following it ever since. A collision with the earth is out of the question, they say.
Not until 2052 will the 2001 FO32 be just as close to Earth again.
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