Asteroid 2005 YU 55 will dart close to Earth on Tuesday. Astronomers captured this radar image of the aircraft carrier sized space rock on Monday. 2005 YU 55 was 860,000 miles from Earth. Image Credit/NASA
The image is grainy, but the bottom line is clear.
Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is one large space rock.
The blunt object, about the size of a U. S. Navy aircraft carrier, is on a course to glide past the Earth on Tuesday, making its closest approach at 5:28 p.m., EST.
How close? The asteroid will skim within 202,000 miles — well inside the orbit of the moon.
NASA’s experts say there is no chance of a collision. And though YU55 will return over time, there is no threat of an impact for at least 200 years.
The last time an asteroid this large passed this close to the Earth was 1976. The next time is 2028.
Yu55, discovered just six years ago, will not be visible to the unaided human eye as it passes close.
But astronomers are observing with radar observatories in Goldstone, Calif., and Arecibo in Puerto Rico.
On Monday, they aimed Goldstone at YU55 for the grainy image above. YU 55 was 860,000 miles away.
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