| Minorplanet: | yes |
| Background: |
|
| Discovered: | 23 March 2001 |
| Epoch: | 17 December 2020 (JD 2459200.5) |
| Uncertainty: | 0 |
| Observation Arc: | 20.00 yr (7,304 days) |
| Perihelion: | 0.2958 AU |
| Time Periastron: | 2 May 2021 23:01 UT |
| Semimajor: | 1.701 AU |
| Eccentricity: | 0.82613 |
| Period: | 2.22 yr |
| Mean Motion: | / day |
| Inclination: | 38.982° |
| Asc Node: | 181.732° |
| Arg Peri: | 123.314° |
| Magnitude: | 15.0 |
| Abs Magnitude: | 17.7 |
is a near-Earth asteroid classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group. With an estimated diameter around, it was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Socorro, New Mexico on 23 March 2001. The asteroid safely passed by Earth on 21 March 2021 16:03 UTC from a closest approach distance of 0.0135AU, or 5.25 lunar distances (LD). During the day before closest approach, reached a peak apparent magnitude of 11.7 and was visible to ground-based observers with telescope apertures of at least . It is the largest and one of the fastest asteroids to approach Earth within 10LD in 2021.
With an observation arc of 20 years, has a well-determined orbit, and its trajectory is well known through the year 2196. The asteroid's orbit is only potentially hazardous on a time scale of thousands of years.
was discovered on 23 March 2001 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site in Socorro, New Mexico. The asteroid was first observed in the constellation Hydra at an apparent magnitude of 15.6. Shortly after discovery, follow-up observations were carried out by four other observatories until the asteroid's subsequent confirmation by the Minor Planet Center on 24 March 2003. The asteroid was given the provisional designation and was recognized as a potentially hazardous asteroid. The accredited LINEAR observers are M. Blythe, F. Shelly, M. Bezpalko, R. Huber, L. Manguso, and S. Adams.
is a member of the dynamical Apollo group of Earth-crossing near-Earth asteroids with orbital semi-major axes greater than 1 astronomical unit (AU). It follows a highly elongated orbit around the Sun at a distance of 0.3–3.1 AU once every 2.22 years (810 days; semi-major axis of 1.7 AU). Its orbit has a high eccentricity of 0.83 and an inclination of ° with respect to the ecliptic. With its highly eccentric orbit, it crosses the orbits of all four inner planets of the Solar System.
Having a long observation arc nearly 20 years, the orbit of is well-defined with a condition code of 0. Although it is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its large size combined with its small minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) of 0.00375abbr=inNaNabbr=in from Earth's orbital path, the asteroid will not make any close approaches within over the next 200 years. The asteroid's orbit is only potentially hazardous on a time scale of thousands of years.
Over the course of its highly eccentric orbit, makes numerous close encounters with the inner planets—most often Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Its MOIDs from Mercury and Venus are 0.036AU and 0.075AU, respectively. 's most recent close encounter with either one of those planets was on 16 January 2008, when it passed by Mercury from a distance of 0.094AU.
On 21 March 2021, passed by Earth from a distance of 0.0135AU or 5.25 LD and made its closest approach at 16:03 UTC. During the few days leading up to closest approach, steadily became brighter and peaked at apparent magnitude 11.7 on 21 March 2021 2:00 UTC. Although its maximum brightness was too faint to be seen with the naked eye, it was visible to observers using telescopes with apertures of at least . Due to its highly inclined and eccentric orbit, its relative velocity to Earth during the close approach is, making it one of the fastest asteroids to pass by Earth in 2021. By the time makes its closest approach to Earth, its solar elongation (angular separation from the Sun) would be 64°, too small to be observable from Earth.
In the next 100 years, will not make any close approaches to Earth closer than the 21 March 2021 encounter. It will make a similarly close approach to Earth on 22 March 2052 18:57±00:03 UTC, from a slightly farther nominal distance of 0.0189AU or 7.37 LD.
Preliminary observations by NEOWISE show that appears to be faint in infrared wavelengths of light, indicating that the asteroid is likely less than 1 kilometer in diameter. Based on this, the diameter is estimated around . Near-infrared spectral data obtained by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in 2018 suggests that is a stony asteroid classified under the Sr spectral class.
was first observed with radar on 21 March 2021 at Canberra, Australia and Narrabri, New South Wales, which provided refinement of its orbit. One day after its closest approach, bistatic radar observations were carried out by NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The radar images revealed that the asteroid has a bilobate shape.
February 2021 observations of by the La Silla Observatory show that it displays a light curve amplitude of 0.9 magnitudes. The preliminary photometry indicates that the body is tumbling with a long main rotation period of hours.