Space Events

Large Asteroid to pass Earth in September

An asteroid called Florence will pass within 4.5 million miles of Earth on Sept. 1, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced in a Thursday press release.

That’s 18 times the distance from the Earth to the moon. If that doesn’t sound impressive, consider its size: At 2.7 miles, Florence is the largest asteroid to pass Earth since NASA began tracking near-Earth asteroids. And this particular asteroid won’t come this close again until 2500, NASA says.