Florence News: Largest Tracked Asteroid to Pass by Earth on Sept.1
Another astronomical event is set to happen next week as the largest tracked asteroid, Florence, is expected to safely pass by Earth on Sept. 1.
While many Americans are still talking about the rare total solar eclipse that covered coast to coast of the USA for the first time after almost a century last Aug. 21, another astronomical event is setting people into excitement, the Florence asteroid. According to reports, Florence will pass by Earth on Sept. 1 at a distance of approximately 4.4 million miles from Earth, or 18 times the distance of the moon from this planet.
The 2.7 mile-wide Florence was named after Florence Nightingale but was originally discovered by Schelte "Bobby" Bus in 1981 at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory after the asteroid made a close encounter with Earth a year earlier. As the asteroid is not expected to appear as close as it will be to the Earth by next week until the year 2500, it goes without saying that those interested in studying astronomical bodies, professional or otherwise, must seize the chance on Sept. 1.
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While the upcoming astronomical event will be an opportunity for the public to simply be in awe of cosmic wonders by simply watching Florence through their small telescopes, space agencies such as NASA are expected to use the chance to delve into the history of the solar system by studying the asteroid.
"While many known asteroids have passed by closer to Earth than Florence will on September 1, all of those were estimated to be smaller...Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA program to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
According to reports, NASA plans to use the Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico operated by the National Science Foundation to capture the image of Florence.
