Just a day after the first day of spring, an asteroid about the size of the Golden Gate Bridge is expected to fly close to Earth – 1.25 million miles.
The asteroid – 2001 FO32 – is between .5 and 1 mile in diameter, making it larger than 97 percent of other asteroids. It is also considered the biggest known asteroid to fly past Earth this year. However, according to officials, the .5- to 1-mile-diameter-asteroid is still considered small compared to large asteroids.
“Although there’s no risk of impact, the space rock is of interest also because it’s one of the fastest space rocks known to fly by Earth,” Eddie Irizarry with EarthSky.rog wrote. “It’s traveling at about 76,980 miles per hour or 21 miles per second, relative to Earth. In contrast, Earth travels around the sun at about 18 miles per second.”
The asteroid’s speed, size and proximity classify it as a “potentially hazardous asteroid,” according to NASA.
The next time 2001 FO32 is expected to come near Earth again will be in 2032.
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