Asteroid 3122 Florence this week


Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project acquired this image of asteroid 3122 Florence on August 28, 2017. See their livestream on August 31.

Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome acquired this image of asteroid 3122 Florence on August 28, 2017. Named for Florence Nightingale, this asteroid is the biggest near-Earth object to pass this close since this category of objects was discovered over a century ago! It’s at least 2.7 miles (4.35 km) in diameter. It’ll safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance.

The cool thing is that the asteroid will certainly be visible in small telescopes and might even be visible in binoculars; here are charts that can help you find it.

The Virtual Telescope Project will have a livestream of Florence’s close pass. The livestream is scheduled for August 31, 2017, starting at 19:30 UTC; translate to your time zone.

Thanks for the photo, Gian!

Bottom line: Photo of asteroid 3122 Florence, a large near-Earth object, which will pass Earth on September 1, 2017.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2vHRCZY

Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project acquired this image of asteroid 3122 Florence on August 28, 2017. See their livestream on August 31.

Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project in Rome acquired this image of asteroid 3122 Florence on August 28, 2017. Named for Florence Nightingale, this asteroid is the biggest near-Earth object to pass this close since this category of objects was discovered over a century ago! It’s at least 2.7 miles (4.35 km) in diameter. It’ll safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance.

The cool thing is that the asteroid will certainly be visible in small telescopes and might even be visible in binoculars; here are charts that can help you find it.

The Virtual Telescope Project will have a livestream of Florence’s close pass. The livestream is scheduled for August 31, 2017, starting at 19:30 UTC; translate to your time zone.

Thanks for the photo, Gian!

Bottom line: Photo of asteroid 3122 Florence, a large near-Earth object, which will pass Earth on September 1, 2017.



from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2vHRCZY

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