Contains:  Solar system body or event
Asteroid 3122 Florence, Gary Imm

Asteroid 3122 Florence

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Description

Time lapse image spanning 30 minutes from the flyby of Florence on the morning of its closest approach (Sept. 1) while it was moving through Aquarius. The distance from earth was about 4.4 million miles, about 18 times the distance between Earth and the moon. Florence is almost 3 miles across and is the largest recorded space object to pass this close to Earth. Although extremely unlikely, if an asteroid of this size ever struck earth, the results would likely be catastrophic. Florence was discovered in 1981 and named in honor of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), who pioneered modern nursing.

The animation accurately captures the relative brightness of the asteroid as compared to the surrounding star field. Which is to say, it was very bright. I was surprised by its brightness and speed.

I also posted a long-exposure image of Florence in a separate post.

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Cloudy Nights
The refractors!

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Solar System