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.
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.
-
North Carolina Supreme Court risks undermining its legitimacyUnder the radar A contentious legal battle over whether to seat one of its own members threatens not only the future of the court's ideological balance, but its role in the public sphere
-
Codeword: January 14, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: January 14, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box officeSpeed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appealSpeed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproarSpeed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
