A nearly 3-mile-wide asteroid zips past Earth tonight


The biggest asteroid to pass Earth since recordkeeping began will cruise by beginning Friday night, and backyard stargazers will be able to spot it with a telescope, Time reports. Asteroid Florence is 2.7 miles across, but it will pass by at a safe distance of 4.4 million miles. "It's possible this asteroid could threaten our planet in the far distant future, but it's unlikely," Paul Chodas of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies told CNN.
At almost three miles wide, Florence will throw off a lot of light — it will appear about as bright as a 9th magnitude star, with its best chance of being seen being from a small telescope around 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
You'll want to take a look if you can — Florence hasn't been this close since 1890 and won't pass as close again until 2500. "Nothing this big has passed this close to Earth since we've been tracking," Chodas told Space.com. "This is a once-in-40-year-event kind of thing."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Learn how to spot Florence from your telescope at Sky & Telescope, or watch it online here.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
-
Temple Mount: the politics of Judaism's holiest site
The Explainer Latest provocation at religious site with a history of 'perpetual friction' risks violence erupting again
-
Ssh! Secret gardens to visit this summer
The Week Recommends These leafy havens are the perfect place to escape the crowds
-
Crossword: August 5, 2025
The Week's daily crossword
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster show
Speed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top Grammys
Speed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own room
Speed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talks
Speed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively