Photographer Noel Keating captured this amazing footage of the enormous 5-kilometre wide asteroid Florence.
Equipped with a home made tracking mount with a Visionking 90mm refractor with Nikon D5500, he set up his gear in Ballintra last night.
He managed to get this astronomical shot between 3:34am and 3:48am!
Noel says he is delighted that he got clear skies to catch this asteroid, but says it was difficult to find with such a large focal length.
Discovered in 1981 by astronomer Schelte J. Bobby Bus in Australia, he named the asteroid in honour of Florence Nightingale.
According to NASA, the asteroid shot by 7,066,600 miles from Earth, the closest approach since 1890! Astronomers predict that it won’t fly by this close until after 2500.
The last time the asteroid passed Earth was in 1930, and is expected to be seen again in 2057.
To see more of Noel’s work you can visit his Facebook page: Noel Keating Photography.
Tags: