06 September, 2017
Many inhabitants of our planet expected the approach of an asteroid Florence, which was to happen on 1 September.
It is one of the biggest asteroids in the Earth's vicinity, and measures about 2.7 miles (4.4 kilometers) wide - or about the size of 30 Egyptian pyramids stuck together.
"Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA programme to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began". All three near-Earth asteroid triples have been discovered with radar observations and Florence is the first seen since two moons were discovered around asteroid 1994 CC in June 2009.
The relatively close proximity of Florence provides astronomers with a rare chance to take measurements.
Scientists have found that asteroid Florence has two satellites located on the orbit of the cosmic body.
Asteroid Florence is among the largest near-Earth asteroids that are several miles in size. The moons are estimated to be around 100-300 meters in diameter.
It is fairly spherical, has a ridge along its equator and at least one large crater. Additional radar observations are scheduled at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California and at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico through September 8. The images also found Florence rotates once nearly every three hours.
"If it were spinning any faster, it would fly apart", Chodas said. During this phenomenon, many scientists have been researching this asteroid.
The space rock was discovered by astronomer Schelte "Bobby" Bus at Siding Spring Observatory in 1981.
