No threat to Earth as large asteroids zoom past

The largest asteroid that passed through Earth this year followed its closest approach, posing no threat to a catastrophic collision, but giving astronomers a rare chance to study a rock formed during the beginning of our solar system. originated.

According to NASA, the asteroid was at its nearest two million kilometers (1.25 million miles) away – more than five times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, but still close enough to be classified as a “potentially dangerous asteroid”.

NASA tracks and catalogs such objects that could potentially land on Earth and unleash enormous destruction, such as the massive asteroid hit that wiped out 75 percent of life on the planet 66 million years ago.

Asteroid 2001 FO32, discovered 20 years ago, was too far away to be so dangerous, even though it reached the nearest point to Earth around 1400 GMT on Sunday, according to the Paris Observatory. NASA said it travels about 124,000 km / h (77,000 km / h).

“Oh yes, friends! Do you see this point of light? This point of light is the asteroid,” exclaimed astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project, who was lending his lenses to the rock Monday. trained. approach.

“How happy I am, how proud I am, how excited I am … to bring it to life for you,” Masi said as he displayed a grainy image of a pale dot during a YouTube broadcast.

Astronomers had hoped to gain a better understanding of the composition of the estimated 900-meter (3,000-foot) rock as it magnified.

“When sunlight hits an asteroid’s surface, minerals in the rock absorb some wavelengths while reflecting others,” NASA said.

“By studying the spectrum of light reflected from the surface, astronomers can measure the chemical ‘fingerprints’ of the minerals on the surface of the asteroid.”

Because of its elongated orbit, NASA said it “picks up faster like a skateboarder unrolling from a half-pipe, and then decelerates after swinging back into deep space and swinging back to the sun”.

Potential threats

The study of asteroids and comets that come so close to our planet – called Near-Earth Object, or NEO – gives scientists a better understanding of the history and dynamics of the solar system.

It is also a valuable database of potential threats – an impact by a large rock from space can destroy the entire planet.

According to NASA, about 80 to 100 tons of material such as dust and small meteorites fall to Earth daily, but larger objects can cause great devastation as they have tremendous momentum due to their high speed.

In 2013, an object nearly 60 meters wide exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, dropping the power of the nuclear bomb during Hiroshima during World War II.

Experts estimate that such events occur once or twice a century, and hits by larger objects occur even less frequently.

NASA said that more than 95 percent of the Asteroids near the Earth of 2001 were cataloged FO32 or greater and that none of them had the chance to affect our planet during the next century.

The agency is studying possible ways to stop an impact by an asteroid or comet, including hitting spacecraft into the object to divert them and even nuclear explosions as a last resort.

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© 2021 AFP