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A large near-Earth asteroid will pass safely by our planet on September 1, at a distance of seven million kilometers, or about 18 Earth-Moon distances, according to NASA.

Asteroid Florence is among the largest near-Earth asteroids that are several miles in size. Measurements from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission indicate it is about 4.4 kilometres in size.

Panorama.am has talked to Areg Mikayelyan, Director of Byurakan Observatory, about the possible effects of the asteroid on the Earth while passing by it.

“The asteroid does not pose a threat to the Earth. It will only leave a gravitational effect,” Mr. Mikayelyan noted, adding that NASA maintains a constant monitoring programme on asteroids (15,000 asteroids registered in its database) and assesses the possible threats.

“The pass [of the asteroid] will take place in 12 days and according to the calculations it will not hurtle towards another object to divert off its orbit. Thus, Florence does not pose a threat to our planet, although it is considered to pass closely to the Earth. In fact, its gravitational effect will not be observed on our planet. For instance, the moon's gravitational pull causes tides on Earth, however since the asteroid is much smaller and farther than the Moon, it will leave an insignificant effect,” he added. 

Asteroid Florence was discovered by Schelte Bus at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia in March 1981. It is named in honour of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.