Wait a moment before you stockpile toothpaste and dish soap in your basement. NASA is positive 2001 FO32 won’t hit us despite the scary classification it gave the asteroid. Asteroid 2001 FO32 is not a danger to us, Paul Chodas, NASA Director for Near Earth Object Studies, told SYFY WIRE. Categorizing an asteroid as a PHA does not necessarily mean that it is predicted to collide with Earth imminently, or even within the next couple centuries. It just means that over a timespan of thousands or tens of thousands of years, the asteroid could conceivably impact Earth.
They know something over there, because they have been monitoring the object since 2001 (it can take years and even decades to confirm where something is and where it’s going in outer space). The qualifications for a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid make 2001 FO32 sound much more unnerving than it actually is. But first, before something is officially seen as hazardous, it needs to qualify as a Near-Earth Object (NEO