Closest Approach Ever By a Large Asteroid Won’t End Life on Earth, But Probably Should

Oh Florence , we really needed you this month . There ’s a petulant species of smart as a whip imp ape that just ca n’t seem to get along that probably deserves to be totally wipe out in a fiery hit . But there you go , flying right on by .

At three air mile wide ( 4.8 km ) , Asteroid Florence is a biggie . In fact , it ’s the big asteroid to authorize by at such a close space since NASA began track near - Earth asteroid , Paul Chodas , managing director of NASA ’s Center for Near - Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in apress liberation .

The careen , named after Florence Nightingale by the way , will soar by Earth on September 1st , 2017 , getting as close as 4.4 million miles ( 7 million km ) to our pathetic , deserving rock . As a comparing , the Moon is around 239,000 mi aside , and Mars is 39 million miles away atits closest . The International Space Station is 250 miles .

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

Australian scientists first discovered Florence in 1981 . This encounter is the close since 1890 , and it wo n’t fare nearer until 2500 . MaybeApophiswill have destroyed us by then . finger crossed !

NASA ’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies hold open course of the asteroids and comets that add up closely to our planet . scientist study these rock to help understand the origin and composition of theSolar System . Also , cataloging the NEOsis important to make certain we can predict if and when the handsome one will come in and mail us the way of the dinosaur . Although I must say , I ’m a big fan of surprises .

Anyway , if you have a telescope , you might be able to undulate at Florence as she pop off by in belated August and early September . “ [ Its ] visible magnitude of 9 is really lustrous , ” Rüdiger Jehn , Centennial State - manager of the Near Earth Object segment of the European Space Agency ’s blank situational knowingness programme secernate Gizmodo in an email . “ Every amateur astronomer will be able to see it . ” The asteroid will pass through constellation Piscis Austrinus , Capricornus , Aquarius and Delphinus , according to the NASA press release .

William Duplessie