This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was generated from data taken in April of 2010 by the Arecibo Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico. Image credit: NASA/Cornell/Arecibo.
One of Mother Nature’s good-sized space rocks is slipping past Earth this November – and this asteroid is a little bit wider than an aircraft carrier!
That’s the word from asteroid experts at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The flyby of the space rock is on November 8 – zipping past Earth by about 325,000 kilometers [201,700 miles] away.
That is a stone’s throw away!
“This asteroid is about 400 meters [1,300 feet] wide — the largest space rock we have identified that will come this close until 2028,” said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL.
Asteroid 2005 YU55 is coming so close that a major observational campaign is to be staged.
Radar astronomy employs the world’s most massive dish-shaped antennas. They will – along with optical telescopes – watch the close flyby of the space rock.
Amateur skywatchers are also plotting out their looks at the object as it scoots by Earth.
“When it flies past, it should be a great opportunity for science instruments on the ground to get a good look,” Barbara Wilson, a scientist at JPL.
“This flyby will be an excellent opportunity to test how we study, document and quantify which asteroids would be most appropriate for a future human mission,” Wilson added.
JPL’s Yeomans said the upcoming pass of asteroid 2005 YU55 in November will be an “opportunity for scientific discovery,” Yeomans noted. “So stay tuned. This is going to be fun.”
Note: For a special animation showing the close flyby of the asteroid, go to:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/comet/20110502/comet20110502.gif
By Leonard David