The largest asteroid to pass by Earth in 2021 was at its closest on March 21, 2022. The near-Earth asteroid, called 2001 FO32, was 1.25 million miles, or more than five times the distance between Earth and the moon, during its closest approach.
- It was moving much faster than most asteroids that fly by our planet, rocketing along at 77,000 miles per hour.
- The 2001 FO32, was discovered in March 2001 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) program in Socorro, New Mexico. The asteroid completes one orbit around the Sun every 810 days.
- This asteroid is moving faster than others because of its angled and elongated orbit around the sun. This orbit takes the asteroid closer to the sun than Mercury.
