It has a diameter of about 914 meters and is the largest asteroid that will pass near Earth this year.
Although the space agency Nasa calls 2001 FO32 potentially dangerous, there is no danger that it will pose a collision hazard in the next few centuries.
“We have very accurate knowledge of 2001 FO32’s orbit around the sun,” Paul Chodas, head of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), told AFP.
Can be visible
The asteroid will be closest to Earth at 17.03 (Norwegian time) on Sunday. If you have a telescope, you can see it pass, writes CNN.
It will not be possible for Norwegians.
“Amateur astronomers in the southern hemisphere and the south of the northern hemisphere can see it,” says Chodas.
For scientists, such a close pass is a good opportunity to look at what happened when our solar system was formed.
They use a telescope to look at the infrared spectrum of the 2001 FO32. Then they compare what they find with the spectrum of meteorites on Earth.
Thus, scientists can determine which minerals the asteroid consists of.
– We are trying to conduct geology with a telescope, says Vishnu Reddy at the University of Arizona.
NASA’s telescope on a Hawaii car will be used to measure the infrared spectrum of the 2001 FO32 as it passes through Earth.
Photo: HANDOUT / AFP
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31 years until next time
2001 FO32 was discovered 20 years ago, hence the 2001 part of the name.
The asteroid moves around the sun with an orbital period of 810 days. Only in 2052 will it be close to Earth again.
Astronomers have looked at the next pass and come to the conclusion that it will be close to Earth five times until the year 2185. Each time the pass takes place at the end of March, writes Spacereference.org.
One of the things that makes the 2001 FO32 special is that it will pass the earth at a speed of 34.4 kilometers per second, or 124,000 km / h.
Normally, asteroids and comets in our solar system move at a speed of 19 kilometers per second, or 69,000 km / h, writes Nasa.
Far from the fastest
Although the 2001 FO32 is fast becoming an asteroid, it is far from the fastest object that has been in the solar system in recent years.
The mysterious object Oumuamua, which was discovered in 2017, moved much faster.
Oumuamua had the fastest speed of 87.4 kilometers per second, or over 315,000 km / h, writes Nasa.
Our own planet, Earth, moves around the sun at a speed of 30 kilometers per second, or 107,800 km / h
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