There’s no denying it: 2020 has been a pretty rocky year and, despite a few glints of hope, 2021 hasn’t started much better. We’re still in the midst of a global pandemic, the government is more focused on tackling activists than solving the climate crisis they’re protesting against, and – according to NASA – a potentially dangerous asteroid will pass uncomfortably close by. to Earth.
In particular, the Asteroid 2001 FO32 will float past the planet on March 21. Speeding just under 77,000 miles per hour and about a kilometer in diameter, it will be the largest and fastest known asteroid to pass so close in 2021.
So, is it time to dig the underground bunker, or to give up completely and go to a quarantine rave, because who cares about COVID in the face of an extinction-level event? Not exactly, explains Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer and professor of astrophysics at Queen’s University, Belfast.
“An impact from a small asteroid, say 200 to 300 meters in diameter, can devastate a state or a small country,” he says. “An asteroid one kilometer in diameter or larger could cause climate impacts around the world that could result in severe food shortages, and of course, devastation close to impact.”
This doesn’t sound very reassuring, but he adds that you don’t have to worry about Asteroid 2001 FO32: “The good thing is that, due to observations made by many astronomers, we know that at least for the next 200 years, we can’t. hit. “While it will come close at that time – as on March 22, 2052 – these actually provide useful opportunities to study and learn more about large, near-terrestrial asteroids,” and we can do that without worry. “
In fact, it looks like we’ve been relatively safe from asteroid threats for a while. According to Fitzsimmons, “NASA-funded searches have now detected nearly all of those larger asteroids and determined that they pose no risk for the next few centuries.” Now, he adds, it’s important to focus on smaller asteroids: “to discover them and find out where they’re going.” Asteroids that have the chance to pass through the atmosphere and hit the ground pass closer to us than the moon about every five to ten years.
We are fortunate that Asteroid 2001 FO32 will leave us unharmed on March 21, but what if you want to see it fly past in the night sky? Unfortunately – “or fortunately!” Fitzsimmons notes – you won’t see much unless you have access to a decent telescope. “At the closest approach, it will still be two million kilometers from us and it will be 100,000 times fainter than the faintest stars visible to the eye.”
Because the asteroid is moving so fast, observers who do have telescopes can have the chance to detect its movement – mapped against distant stars – in real time.