Posted on 11/04/2011 12:09:23 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla (Reuters) - A huge asteroid will pass closer to Earth than the moon on Tuesday, giving scientists a rare chance for study without having to go through the time and expense of launching a probe, officials said.
Earth's close encounter with Asteroid 2005 YU 55 will occur at 6:28 p.m. EST on Tuesday, as the space rock sails about 201,000 miles from the planet.
"It is the first time since 1976 that an object of this size has passed this closely to the Earth. It gives us a great -- and rare -- chance to study a near-Earth object like this," astronomer Scott Fisher, a program director with the National Science Foundation, ..
The orbit and position of the asteroid, which is about 1,312 feet in diameter, is well known, added senior research scientist Don Yeomans, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
"There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Yeomans said.
Thousands of amateur and professional astronomers are expected to track YU 55's approach, which will be visible from the planet's northern hemisphere. It will be too dim to be seen with the naked eye, however, and it will be moving too fast for viewing by the Hubble Space Telescope.
"The best time to observe it would be in the early evening on November 8 from the East Coast of the United States," Yeomans said. ...
Scientists suspect YU 55 has been visiting Earth for thousands of years, but because gravitational tugs from the planets occasionally tweak its path, they cannot tell for sure how long the asteroid has been in its present orbit.
"These sorts of events have been happening for most of the lifetime of the Earth, about 4.5 billion years," Fisher said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Orbital period of 1.2yrs. We ought to put some equipment on there for a nice ride.
Among others, Isaac Asimov suggested that be done with comets, to explore the extreme outer solar system. The problems include building something that can catch, and then grab hold of, a comet. :’)
...Well, maybe no worries yet...
Why is there only one picture of this thing?
;’) Our next ice age is riding on one of these. :’)
Good question.
Because the pinhole camera only had one exposure of the Idaho Potato.
The one pic that exists is a radar image, taken over a year ago, probably during its previous (not very) close encounter with Earth. The reason it was even practical is that the rock is a quarter mile across. Tuesday will probably find us lousy with new pictures, including in the optical spectrum.
Thanks again LVD, here’s the simulation of the flyby:
http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/x/jdg/2005yu55/2005_YU55_approach_movie.gif
I read that you would need a telescope to see it. Wish I had one, I would love to get some images.
lol
If the NASA channel was run like L.A. local news, we would already have “live team coverage” with a real time radar image on one side of the split screen and nonstop talking heads on the other.
Hope you’re right and that we are lousy with lots of pictures (and not be presented with lots of lousy pictures)
No blood for assteroids!! man
Must be moving at a real good clip to come this close without even acknowledging our mass.
Then next trip, we are no longer "there" but further ahead?
But will it be visible? I want to see it!
This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was obtained on Nov. 7, 2011, at 11:45 a.m. PST (2:45 p.m. EST/1945 UTC), when the space rock was at 3.6 lunar distances, which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometers, from Earth. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Assclown Richard C. Hoagland, who appears on Coast to Coast, has a rumor about NASA making a launch from Vanderburg tomorrow. The purpose is to observe the asteroid or use a nuke to nudge it away.
When in trouble
When in doubt
Run in circles
And scream and shout!
Don't forget to wave your hands about.
Thanks!
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