Three-Mile Asteroid Is About to Buzz the Earth
Look up at the sky this Labor Day weekend and you might catch a titanic traveler. Asteroid Florence, a 2.7-mile-wide space rock, will be buzzing the planet. NASA says it's the biggest one to visit the neighborhood since the agency started keeping records.
We're in no danger from this hunk of rock. On Friday, Sept. 1, Florence will pass by at a distance of about 4.4 million miles, much further than the distance from the Earth to the moon. It hasn't been this close to us since 1890 and won't be again for centuries to come.
NASA says the close flyby will allow its researchers to get a look at the big asteroid in unprecedented detail. They'll be able to see surface details as small as 30 feet. You can have a look, too. Says NASA: "Florence will brighten to ninth magnitude in late August and early September, when it will be visible in small telescopes for several nights as it moves through the constellations Piscis Austrinus, Capricornus, Aquarius and Delphinus."
Florence makes its closest pass during the daylight hours in the U.S., but it's so slow-moving and bright that it's still possible to see. Check out Sky & Telescope for a viewing guide.
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