4.4 kilometers of rock: The largest asteroid ever seen by NASA is approaching

in #news7 years ago

Florence is the largest asteroid to pass so close to our planet since the detection program was established ", say from the space agency

The largest asteroid in the history of approaching our planet is heading towards Earth and the outcome of this astronomical event will take place on September 1, reports NASA.

It is expected that the asteroid Florence, which is 4.4 kilometers in diameter, will pass at a distance of 7 million kilometers: 18 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.

Florence is the largest asteroid to have come so close to our planet since NASA's asteroid detection and tracking program was established, "said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Research Center (CNEOS) . 

Chodas added that although "many known asteroids have passed closer to Earth than Florence, they were smaller."

The asteroid, discovered in 1981, will move to the closest distance to Earth from 1890 to 2500. It will be visible with small telescopes for several nights, traversing the constellations of Piscis Austrinus, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Delphinus

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Spooky objects out there! Would love to see much more funding going into finding and tracking them. Nice post!

Thanks for comment

Interesting post

That's the idea. Thanks

I love the GIF that you used. Was it created by you? If not, can I have the link?