DIt is probably the largest asteroid, which scientists predict will come closer to Earth this year, took off from our planet on Sunday. The US Space Agency NASA announced last week, “2001 FO 32” and celestial bodies with a diameter of several hundred meters should go near the Earth at a distance of about two million kilometers. This is five times the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
NASA said there was no risk of a collision – neither now nor in the future. “It is stable, it is not on a risk course,” European space agency ASA’s asteroid specialist, Detlef Koschni, told the German press agency before the incident.
“We know the orbit of the” 2001 FO32 “around the Sun very well; we followed it 20 years ago,” said Paul Chodas of the Center for Near Earth Object Studies in California. “There is no way that an asteroid can reach close to two million kilometers from Earth.”
Even amateur astronomers can look at the asteroid with the proper equipment, Koschny announced. There are nothing in the dimension of the two million kilometers of the solar system.
Defense system “Hera” established in 2020
The “2001 FO32”, which orbits the Sun once every 810 days, reportedly passed through the Earth at a speed of about 124,000 kilometers per hour – and would not see it again until after 2052. NASA scientists wanted to take a chance during the flyby to examine the asteroid more closely.
Essa has its own programs to look for objects important to the Earth. “2001 FO 32” would be a typical candidate for an attempt to distract him from his career to avoid a possible collision with Earth – if he didn’t fly at a harmless distance. An asteroid of this size could destroy an entire country, Koschi said. For comparison: In 2013, a 20-meter chunk explosion wreaked havoc in the Russian metropolis of Chelyabinsk. The shock injured 1,500 people.
Last year, Esa launched an asteroid defense project known as the Greek goddess “Hera”. Its purpose is to test what effect NASA’s probe has on the asteroid.
