Asteroid Will Safely Pass by Earth 21st March

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Asteroid 2001 FO32 Will Safely Pass by Earth March 21

Quote

The interplanetary interloper won’t come closer than 1.25 million miles to Earth, but it will present a valuable scientific opportunity for astronomers.

The largest asteroid predicted to pass by our planet in 2021 will be at its closest on March 21, providing astronomers a rare opportunity to get a good look at a rocky relic that formed at the dawn of our solar system.

Called 2001 FO32, the near-Earth asteroid will make its closest approach at a distance of about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers) – or 5 1/4 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. There is no threat of a collision with our planet now or for centuries to come.

  Read More: NASA

 

[zep73]

If this was a Danish forum, I would have written "Better luck next time!", and everybody would have laughed. It's funny how different humor can be in different cultures. In Denmark the humor is sarcastic, dark and twisted. The nastier the better.

 

 

 

[bison]

For some time, the NASA/JPL Center for Near Earth Object Studies has given the estimated diameter of the asteroid  2001 FO32 as 770 to 1700 meters, average value 1235 meters. Within the past few days, this figure has been revised downward to 550 meters plus or minus 110 meters.

Asteroid diameters are calculated on the basis of an assumed degree of reflectivity, or brightness, at a given distance. The reduced diameter indicates that astronomers now believe that the object is about 50 percent brighter than they previously  supposed.  

Edited March 13, 2021 by bison
improved paragraph structure