Original taken from yurisokolov in Asteroid Florence is flying towards the globe.
Florence flies to the globe
In the autumn of 2017, the largest asteroid in the entire history of observations called Florence will approach the Earth at a relatively close distance - 7 million km. The diameter of the object is 4.4 km. Florence is expected to be an excellent target for radar observations. The resulting images will show the real size of Florence, and can also show features of the asteroid's surface up to 10 meters in size.
Asteroid Florence will pass at a distance of about 7 million km from Earth on September 1, 2017 (18 distances between the Earth and the Moon). Florence is one of the largest near-Earth asteroids, its diameter is 4.4 km. Such data was published by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The object was measured using the Spitzer space telescope.
“While many known asteroids passed closer to Earth than Florence on September 1, they were all much smaller. Florence is the largest asteroid to come this close to our planet," said Paul Hodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Exploration (CNEOS) at the laboratory in Pasadena, California.
This relatively close encounter allows scientists to study this asteroid better than previous ones. Florence is expected to be an excellent target for radar observations. Radar imaging will be done from California and also at the Arecibo Observatory of the National Science Foundation in Puerto Rico.
The resulting images will show the real size of Florence, and can also show features of the asteroid's surface up to 10 meters in size. The asteroid Florence was discovered by "Bobby" Schillet at the Saidin Spring Observatory in Australia in March 1981. The site was named after scientist Florence Nightingale (1820-1910).
In early August 2017, it was reported that NASA scientists plan to use a real asteroid for the first time to develop technical measures to monitor and protect against cosmic bodies that pose a threat to the Earth. The asteroid in question is 2012 TC4. Despite the fact that it does not pose a threat to the Earth, scientists plan to use its close flyby of our planet on October 12, 2017 for a large-scale observation campaign involving many ground-based observatories.
Previously, NASA was already engaged in theoretical study of issues related to the warning and even deflection of possibly dangerous asteroids and the elimination of the consequences of their possible fall. Therefore, researcher Vishnu Reddy from the Lunar and Planetary Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona proposed using a real asteroid for these purposes.
“The question is: how ready are we for the next space threat? - explained the scientist. “Therefore, we proposed a program to train the observation network and check how prepared we are for a possible fall of a dangerous asteroid.”
NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), the US federal agency responsible for coordinating efforts to protect the Earth from threats from space, accepted Reddy's idea. During the training, scientists will work out the coordination and operational modeling of the trajectory as more precise data on its movement become available.
A month earlier, US scientists determined the size of an asteroid capable of destroying the Earth. The calculations were shown by the developed computer model. Scientists simulated on a computer the fall of tens of thousands of asteroids up to objects with a diameter of 400 m.
In 60% of cases, the computer calculated the destruction of many cities by the shock wave. It is possible that the fall of the asteroid will cause a tsunami. In general, a celestial body with a diameter of 140 m is capable of causing total damage to the Earth. At the same time, scientists note that potentially dangerous asteroids can be at a sufficient distance only once every 0.5 million years. Therefore, the collision appears to be an event in the distant future.
In May 2017, it was reported that the Psyche mission, designed to explore the almost entirely metal asteroid Psyche, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, would be launched a year earlier, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported.
This will allow reaching the asteroid four years earlier than planned. The asteroid, discovered in 1852, is considered to be a fragment of the core of a protoplanet, the only such object in the vicinity of Earth and Mars. Its study will make it possible to understand whether this is so, whether its core is similar to the earth's, and how long ago it was formed. The information obtained will provide an opportunity to learn more about the process of planet formation. In addition, asteroids made of metal are of commercial interest - they can be used as a source of resources.
Glazunov-Blokadnik Re: Asteroid Florence flies to the Earth.
The largest of the potentially dangerous asteroids, (3122) Florence, approached the Earth. Its diameter is 4.4 km. It will be possible to see the celestial body at night using an amateur telescope.
September 1, 2017 Florence approached our planet at a distance of 7 million km. This is about 18 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Since the start of the NASA program, which is aimed at identifying and tracking such objects, (3122) Florence has become the largest asteroid that has dangerously approached us, Naked Science reports.
Despite the fact that this asteroid is considered potentially dangerous, there is no threat to the Earth at this stage. Perhaps it will appear after 2500. Moreover, the next rapprochement will occur in forty years.
If the object were to fly closer than it is now, there would be more reasons for worry. Asteroids with a diameter of more than 1 km are considered a threat to terrestrial civilization: this also includes Florence, whose diameter is 4.4 km.
In the event of a collision with our planet of a celestial body with a diameter of 1000 m, the impact energy is estimated at approximately 80 thousand Mt tons, the formed crater will have a diameter of 20 km. Such a cataclysm would probably lead to billions of victims. In the event of an asteroid falling to Earth with a diameter of 5 km, global climate change cannot be avoided. A 10-kilometer asteroid will almost certainly destroy the entire earth civilization.
As UNIAN reported earlier, every year scientists more and more confidently predict the probability of a collision with the Earth of large celestial bodies. Recently, by the way, researchers from the Czech Republic found out that in 2022, 2025, 2032 and 2039
The largest asteroid on record, Florence, flew past Earth on September 1st. The distance to our planet was potentially dangerous, but the celestial body continued its journey without incident.
On a cosmic scale, the distance from Florence to our planet was small - seven million kilometers. That's 18 distances from the Earth to the Moon. The asteroid itself is the size of a small city - its diameter is 4.4 kilometers.
Florence is a long-awaited guest for earthlings. They prepared for his arrival, the media wrote about him, and astronomers set up telescopes to take better pictures. The flight of the asteroid was observed in Russia through telescopes over Baikal. This was told to RIA Novosti by the head of the space monitoring laboratory of the State Astronomical Institute named after Sternberg Moscow State University (GAISh) Vladimir Lipunov.
Florence has already flown safely by. We observed and photographed it with the help of robotic telescopes of our Master network, first over Baikal, and then over South Africa
- Vladimir Lipunov.
Why the meeting with Florence is important, Vladimir Surdin, senior researcher at the SAI, explained. According to him, asteroids allow us to understand what our planet is made of - after all, we cannot look inside the Earth. “Asteroids are practically the bricks that once formed the interiors of large planets, we can study them and understand what kind of substance is in the bowels of the Earth,” the scientist explained.
Florence flies past us every few thousand years. The orbits of the Earth and the asteroid have not previously crossed, and this is unlikely to happen in the future. But if such a meeting happened, the blow could change life on the planet. There are several craters on Earth from the impacts of other asteroids - in Canada, Mexico, on the Central Siberian Plateau in Russia. The craters are billions of years old and hundreds of kilometers in diameter. The asteroids that left them were the size of Florence and larger - 5-10 kilometers. Each of them greatly changed the conditions on Earth.
Astronomers have called Florence potentially dangerous. These are all asteroids that approach the Earth at 7.5 million kilometers or less.
Florence opened in 1981. It was discovered by the American astronomer Shelte Bass from the Siding Spring Observatory. The asteroid was named after the national heroine of Great Britain, Florence Nightingale. This is the famous Victorian nurse. A born aristocrat, she dedicated her life to helping the sick and the poor. During the Crimean War, she worked in field hospitals and managed to instill in the army sanitary standards for caring for the wounded.
Asteroid Florence is so large that it was visible through semi-professional telescopes and even binoculars. Last night, the asteroid, its brightness was maximum for earthlings, Florence flashed between the constellations of Capricorn and Dolphin.
MOSCOW, September 1 - RIA Novosti. The Florence asteroid, the size of a small city - its length reaches more than four kilometers - flew past the Earth on September 1 at a potentially dangerous distance without causing harm, Vladimir Lipunov, head of the space monitoring laboratory at the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute of Moscow State University (GAISh), told RIA Novosti.
"Florence has already flown by safely. We have observed it photographed with the help of robotic telescopes of our Master network, first over Baikal and then over South Africa," he said.
According to the scientist, the asteroid approached as close as possible to Earth at a distance of seven million kilometers. This is almost 18 times the distance from our planet to the moon.
Not only big, but also interesting
NASA previously said that Florence will be the largest asteroid to approach Earth this far since NASA launched its Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Program in 1998.
According to Vladimir Surdin, a senior researcher at the SAI, the approach of this celestial body aroused the interest of astronomers around the world.
"The event is unique, in the sense that we have never studied such large asteroids with sufficient clarity. There was nothing terrible in its approach, and, of course, there is scientific interest, because all such large ones fly far from us, and this one is the first close," the scientist said.
“We cannot look inside our planet, everything is buried there at great depths, and asteroids are practically the bricks from which the insides of large planets once formed, we can study them and understand what kind of substance is in the bowels of the Earth,” he said.
Eighteen Distances from the Earth to the Moon
The scientist explained that the distance of seven million kilometers is quite large, so Florence did not pose a real danger to earthlings, since it was a distance 18 times greater than from the Earth to the Moon.
"Here he will miss for sure," Surdin remarked. He added that this asteroid periodically approaches our planet, but its orbit does not intersect with the earth, which means that Florence cannot hit it.
Dmitry Wiebe, head of the Department of Physics and Evolution of Stars at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in turn, said that the passage of a celestial body at any distance from the Earth poses no danger - an asteroid can pose a hypothetical threat to our planet if, for example, it knocks down a satellite.
Watching Florence
The asteroid could be observed in the constellations Southern Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Dolphin, NASA said. The agency also said that it is extremely difficult to see Florence without special equipment. This information was also confirmed in the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Astronomers hope to get the exact characteristics of the celestial body in early September, after the world's largest observatories track the trajectory of its flight. It was reported that scientists intend to take several thousand pictures of Florence and objects on its surface.
Florence was discovered in 1981 by astronomer Shelty Bass at the Australian Siding Spring Observatory. The asteroid was named after the Englishwoman Florence Nightingale, who became one of the first sisters of mercy and became famous during the Crimean War.
On August 28, the asteroid (3122) Florence was recorded in the sky in the opposition phase, i.e. when the difference in the ecliptic longitude of the cosmic body and the Sun is 180 °.
On August 30-31, Florence was observed in the phase of maximum brightness of 8.7 apparent stellar magnitude, approached the Earth on September 1 at a minimum distance of 0.047 AU. (7.5 million kilometers). The trajectory of the movement of the celestial body will be along the constellations of the Southern Fish, Capricorn, Aquarius, Little Horse, Dolphin, Chanterelle and Cygnus (until September 6).
Scheme of the path of an asteroid at a brightness greater than 10 magnitude:
Asteroid ephemeris:
An ephemeris (in astronomy) is a table of celestial coordinates, in this case an asteroid, calculated at regular intervals.
The maximum angular velocity of its movement across the sky was about 24 arc. sec. per minute. This is enough to notice the displacement of the asteroid relative to the stars in a couple of minutes through any telescope and even small binoculars.
The next similar approach will be exactly 40 years later, on September 2, 2057, when it will pass at 0.04995 AU. e. from the Earth.
Brief reference.
Asteroid 3122 Florence was discovered on March 2, 1981 by the American astronomer Shelte Bass, a specialist at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Designated 1981 ET3 at opening , April 6, renamed in honor of the famous British sister of mercy and public figure of the XIX - early XX centuries, Florence Nightingale.
By the way, to broaden our horizons, let's write down what this combination of numbers and letters "1981 ET3" means : 1981 - 1981 asteroid discovery, E - in the first half of the month of March, T - the 19th asteroid discovered in the second half of March, 3 - index 3 means that more than 25 asteroids were discovered in this half of the month. For a more accurate calculation, you need the number of openings in this half of the month 3 times 25 (the number of letters of the alphabet used, without the letter I) plus the number of the letter itself in this sequence (in this case 19). Difficult at first glance, but nothing is impossible in knowledge!
Florence is one of the closest asteroids to Earth. Included in the Amur II group, the entire orbit of which lies outside the earth, and only at perihelion (the asteroid point closest to the Sun) do they approach the planet Earth without going inside its orbit. Florence's perihelion distance is 1.020 AU, and the inclination of the asteroid's orbit is 22 degrees. The semi-major axis of the orbit is 1.769 AU. Florence makes one revolution around the Sun in 2.35 years. Belongs to the light spectral class S-asteroids, is very small in diameter - 5 km.
Brief conclusion: this asteroid is not the largest in the history of observations of the outer space of the solar system. By the standards of the distance from it to our planet, the space is not large, but does not pose any danger to the planet Earth.
