NASA tried to calm sky watchers over a “potentially hazardous” 2001 FO32 asteroid that is set to pass close to the Earth on 21 March.
You may have seen headlines about an #asteroid that will safely fly by Earth on March 21. While this asteroid, known as 2001 FO32, is large, it will safely zip past Earth at a distance of 1.3 million miles—five times further away than the Moon—and poses no risk of hitting Earth. pic.twitter.com/oZZG5UaFsf
— NASA Asteroid Watch (@AsteroidWatch) March 8, 2021
The rock, measuring up to 1.7 kilometres in diameter, will not hit our planet, the agency has assured the world through Twitter. The reason is simple – the space object is travelling too far from the Earth to cause any harm to our home.
“You may have seen headlines about an #asteroid that will safely fly by Earth on March 21,” NASA wrote. “While this asteroid, known as 2001 FO32, is large, it will safely zip past Earth at a distance of 1.3 million miles—five times further away than the Moon—and poses no risk of hitting Earth.”
1.3 million miles equals around 2 million kilometres – or 0.01348 astronomical units. The moon rotates around our planet at a distance of about 238,856 miles.
The space agency’s message triggered a wave of comments from the internet crowd who joked that a post designed to calm people has had the opposite effect.
“Like the start of a disaster movie this tweet,” one person wrote.
That’s awfully close.
— Daily Reality 🇪🇺 (@Daily_Reality_) March 9, 2021
It's a fasteroid.
— Cosina-der Wolf ist müde (@Cosina_Wolf) March 8, 2021
How crazy would it be if something missed us but hit the moon?
— Travis Stiles (@titostiles) March 8, 2021
I know...its a silly thought, but someone should work this into a movie 🤣
