(ORDO NEWS) — Astronomer Gianluca Masi from Italy, working on the Virtual Telescope project, used a special modern robotic PlaneWave telescope.
With its help, it was possible to take a photo of a huge asteroid that is approaching our planet at high speed. It was named 2001 SV21 and classified as a potentially dangerous object. The asteroid will fly by the Earth at a minimum distance.
NASA has provided data that the space object has a size reaching 1.3 km. The closest approach to our planet will occur on March 4, 2022. The American space agency notes that the space object can be classified as potentially dangerous, because it is large, and the distance between the asteroid and the planet will be very close.
NASA has provided data indicating that 2001 CB21 will fly by, but no collision will occur. Despite the fact that the asteroid moves at a tremendous speed, which reaches 43 thousand kilometers per hour, it will fly at a safe distance of 4.8 million kilometers.
Gianluca Masi photographed a space object when it was at a distance of 34.5 million kilometers from our planet. For this, modern equipment was used, which made it possible to obtain a picture of really high quality.
Asteroid 138971 (2001 CB21) makes a full circle around the Sun in just 384 days. Given its huge size, we can conclude that it is larger than the other 97% of near-Earth objects.
Quite often, asteroids are said to be potentially dangerous, but this does not mean at all that a collision must occur. This only indicates that the object will fly at a minimum distance from our planet. For example, if the diameter of an asteroid is about 150 meters and flies at a distance of 7.5 million kilometers, then it is already classified as potentially dangerous.
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