NASA Says Biggest Asteroid Will Pass By Earth With 77,000mph Speed; Here's How to Watch This Rare Moment

The asteroid's upcoming flyby excites astronomers who have been observing it for the past 20 years. Asteroid 2001 FO32 will make its closest approach to Earth on March 21. NASA claims that there is no need to be concerned. The space rock will come no more than 1.25 million miles to our homeworld, except at its nearest approach.

The space rock, formally known as asteroid 231937 (designated 2001 FO32), will fly by Earth at a speed of 123,887 kilometers per hour (34.4 kilometers per second).

Asteroid 2021 EQ3 will come nearest to Earth at around 9:45 p.m. PT (12:45 a.m. ET) Monday at a distance of around 173,000 miles (278,000 kilometers), or 72 percent of the distance between the Earth and the moon. The asteroid will flyby but at a distance five times that of the earth.

What Is The Name Of This Asteroid?

Asteroid 2021 EQ3 may have a diameter of up to 125 feet (38 meters) and a width of 1.1 kilometers. That's around the same height as the CN Tower.

It's also around the same size as the meteoroid that crashed into the atmosphere above Russia in 2013, sending a shock wave into the city of Chelyabinsk below, shattering thousands of windows and injuring hundreds.

Just about 3.5 percent of the nearly 25,000 near-Earth asteroids known to scientists are greater than a kilometer, according to NASA.

As a result, CNET said EQ3 will be the second-largest planet to approach the earth in 2021.

Another report said the incoming asteroid is also distinct from 2001 FO32, which is a colossal asteroid with a diameter of over a mile.

Is This Asteroid Flyby Dangerous?

Express.co.uk said many asteroids that fly by Earth are leftovers from the formation of the inner planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Exploration (LINEAR) program in Socorro, New Mexico, discovered asteroid FO32 in March 2001.

Since the asteroid is large enough to be classified as "potentially dangerous," this does not mean it would hit Earth.

Instead, because of its size and proximity to Earth, the asteroid is worth keeping an eye on in the future.

When asteroids come within 0.05 au of Earth - about five million miles - they are said to swing by on "close approaches."

The director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, Paul Chodas, said there's no way the asteroid can come more than 1.25 million miles to Earth.

What Is the Best Way to Watch This Flyby?

The space rock has been under NASA's watchful eye. The asteroid might be visible to certain people in the southern hemisphere, The Sun said.

In the nights leading up to the closest approach, amateur observers in the southern hemisphere and at low northern latitudes should be able to see the asteroid using moderate scale telescopes with apertures of at least 8 inches, according to Chodas. Stargazers would most likely require star charts to find it, he said.

While those interested in seeing the asteroid with their eyes won't be able to do so, EarthSky suggests that stargazers will be able to see it using a telescope with a diameter of 20 centimeters or greater that can track the asteroid's motion in real-time.

Astronomers should be able to get a decent look at it since the experience will be streamed live online via the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome, according to the space agency.

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