Every day there are various visitors coming to say hello to our planet earth. Some visitors are usual and some are rare. Some events leave the scientific community with abundant and novel information which are not yet explored. Today was a very special day for Observers, Amateur astronomers, and scientists across the globe. The largest asteroid predicted to pass earth by 2021 arrived at 12:03 p.m. ET Sunday. This near-Earth asteroid made its closest approach at a distance of about 1.25 million miles (2 million kilometers). This transit would give an opportunity for observers to learn about the rocky realms of the universe.
A brief history of the discovery of the asteroid 2001 FO32
The Asteroid was discovered on 23 March 2001. It was seen by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR). LINEAR is at Lincoln Laboratory’s Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico. The accredited LINEAR observers are M. Blythe, F. Shelly, M. Bezpalko, R. Huber, L. Manguso, and S. Adams. The asteroid was first observed in the constellation Hydra. It had an apparent magnitude of 15.6. Following its discovery, many studies were done until it was confirmed by Minor Planet Center on 24 March 2003.
The asteroid was temporarily named 2001 FO32. It was also classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid even though there is no probability of a collision even in the coming centuries. The follow-up studies were also able to track the trajectory as well as the speed of the rock.
Paul Chodas is the director of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) under NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. According to him, “We know the orbital path of the asteroid 2001 FO32 around the Sun very accurately since it was discovered 20 years ago and has been tracked ever since,”. He also said “There is no chance the asteroid will get any closer to Earth than 1.25 million miles.
Physical Characteristics of the asteroid 2001 FO32
The huge asteroid revolves in one orbit every 810 days with a speed of 77,000 mph. Its speed is comparatively faster than the speed at which most asteroids pass Earth. Its tilted, inclined and elongated orbit is the reason for this unusual speed of transition. After today’s visit, it won’t be coming this close to Earth again until 2052. In 2052 it will pass 1.75 million miles.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Expectations and studies related to today’s visit
During today’s trip, the asteroid’s size and properties like its surface, brightness, composition, etc would be analyzed. Till now no rotational light curve of the rock is obtained from photometric studies. The body’s rotation period, pole, and shape will be studied in detail during its close approach today.
NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF), a 3.2-meter (10.5-foot) telescope atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea is ready to observe this event today. Its infrared spectrograph, SpeX would be used for this purpose. JPL hosts CNEOS for NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program in NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office. The University of Hawaii manages IRTF under contract with NASA. The SpeX instrument was built at the University of Hawaii.
Credits: UH/IfA
How spectrograph helps in the study
The reflecting surface of the asteroid will scatter the sunlight in various wavelengths and it would be recorded by the spectrograph. Using these spectral components the chemical composition could be studied. Using the results it would be possible to learn about other similar asteroids.
Vishnu Reddy, associate professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory in Tucson. He said, “We’re trying to do geology with a telescope,”. “We’re going to use the IRTF to get the infrared spectrum to see its chemical makeup,” Reddy added. “Once we know that, we can make comparisons with meteorites on Earth to find out what minerals the Asteroid 2001 FO32 contains.”
According to the scientists, if it is iron-rich, that would mean it’s denser. It would be more massive than a stony asteroid of a similar size. And if its surface is dark it may indicate the asteroid contains a lot of carbon. suggesting it could be the nucleus of a long-dead comet.
Also, Deep Space Network (DSN) would be used to get a detailed view of the asteroid. DSN has three ground stations one in California (Goldstone), one in Spain (Madrid), and one in Australia (Canberra). An operation of NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN). Dish antennas are there to reflect and learn about radio signals. All these measurements could be used to estimate the dimensions, rotation rate, and surface features (like large boulders or craters). They could even tell about other satellites that it may have.
Why do we need to observe asteroids?
Almost 95% of asteroids having a similar size have been discovered and cataloged till now. Actually, none of them is found as a hazard till now. But the scientists are giving their best efforts to discover all asteroids that could pose an impact hazard in the future. Even if any of these come around the more information that we could gather would help us with changing their trajectories. So a detailed study is still required and is continuously required to safeguard our life.
“Observations dating back 20 years revealed that about 15% of near-Earth asteroids comparable in size to 2001 FO32 have a small moon,” said Lance Benner, principal scientist at JPL. “Currently little is known about this object, so the very close encounter provides an outstanding opportunity to learn a great deal about this asteroid.” Let’s wait and see what all info we get from this Asteroid’s lonely trip passing the earth.
Reference: NASA
Click Here To Read An Interesting Article on Giant Asteroid Apophis
Author
