Asteroid 2011: How To See '2005 YU55' From Earth (LIVE UPDATES, PHOTOS)
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2005 YU55, an asteroid larger than an aircraft carrier, will whiz past Earth on Tuesday, coming so close to the home planet that it will actually travel inside the moon's orbit.
Astronomically speaking, the asteroid will narrowly miss Earth, but NASA tells HuffPost we have nothing to worry about. Rather, it is an opportunity for astronomers to do research into the asteroid's composition.
UPDATE 11/8 7pm: According to the Associated Press, the asteroid has "zipped by Earth."
"There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon," Don Yeomans, the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program office, told Reuters last week.
According to NASA, the space rock is about 1,300 feet across and takes about 18 hours to make a full rotation. At its closest point to Earth, which will occur at 6:28 p.m. EST, the asteroid will be 202,000 miles away, or roughly .85 the distance of the moon to Earth.
Even though it's relatively close, Asteroid 2005 YU55 can't be seen with the naked eye. But if the stars align (yes, we had to go there), some amateur astronomers with the right equipment might be able to catch a glimpse of the asteroid as it hurtles by at a reported 30,000 miles per hour.
"The best time to observe it would be in the early evening on November 8th from the east coast of the US," Scott Fisher, program director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences told Space.com. "However! It is going to be VERY faint, even at its closest approach. You will need a decent sized telescope to be able to actually see the object as it flies by."
According to Kelly Beatty at Sky & Telescope, you'll need a telescope with at least a 6-inch aperture to see the asteroid. It's a nearly full moon tonight, so just like some of the meteor showers earlier this year that have been washed out, the visibility of the asteroid could also be affected by the moon's glare.
Sky & Telescope, which has a great map of the asteroid's path, reports that the space rock will take ten hours to move east across the sky, from Aquila to Pegasus.
Don't fear if you lack the equipment or know-how to track the space rock. For a roughly $12 donation, you can catch a live webcast of the event from Italy's Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory.
Countdown to asteroid passing closest to Earth:
Animation of asteroid's path as it passes by Earth:
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Associated Press writes:
An asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier zipped by Earth on Tuesday in the closest encounter by such a massive space rock in more than three decades. Scientists ruled out any chance of a collision but turned their telescopes skyward to learn more about the object known as 2005 YU55.
| @ AsteroidWatch : @tdcmba Yes, of course it missed. There was no threat of it hitting but it was close enough to allow us to do great science. |
Remember when we thought that asteroid might hit us?
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| @ AsteroidWatch : Another live feed of asteroid #YU55 from the Clay Center Observatory's 25-inch telescope: http://t.co/I3fWvPbP |
| @ slow_ro : RT @AsteroidWatch Another live feed of asteroid #YU55 from the Clay Center Observatory's 25-inch telescope: http://t.co/2WeeOQko |
Have no fear - NASA writes that while the asteroid's encounter with Earth is the closest it has come in the last 200 years, "The gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on Earth, including tides and tectonic plates."
Scientific American discusses asteroids, writing, "On average, a 30 meter sized object, the smallest that could cause significant ground damage, would be expected to hit every few hundred years, and a larger object of a kilometer in diameter would not be expected to hit but every few hundred thousand years."
Ever wonder what a large asteroid impact would do? Check out this simulator from Purdue University.
Watch the first video of the asteroid from NASA below, and learn more here:
| @ PopMech : Death by #asteroid, and how to avoid it http://t.co/EW0cRueb |
MSNBC reports that "the science team for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer recently estimated that more than 90 percent of the near-Earth asteroids wider than a kilometer (0.6 miles) have been identified, but that thousands of asteroids in YU55's size range still remain to be detected."
Check out http://events.slooh.com/ for a live webcast from a Canary Islands telescope.
In a Washington Post Q & A with NSF astronomer Thomas Statler, a concerned person asked what to do if they see an asteroid coming towards them: "Should one seek to go into a basement or, if there is not time, move into a doorframe?"
Statler responded, "Well, if you really know it's coming toward YOU, the doorframe ain't gonna help."
| @ stevehook1 : Asteroid approaching. Pleased I didn't pay for my hotel room up front. |
No telescope? No worries! The Near Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted information about a live webcast of 2005 YU55's flyby.
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| @ AsteroidWatch : A live webcast of #YU55 from a Canary Island telescope will be provided by @slooh starting at 4pm ET today. www.slooh.com |
Space.com has put together an awesome infographic that includes information about other asteroid flybys, past and future. Check it out here.
TIME reports that scientists at Spaceguard are currently watching 19,500 asteroids of 330-3,300 ft range that qualify as "near-Earth," adding that "moving objects pack a bigger punch than their size suggests."
| @ ryanbeckwith : That's what THEY want you to believe. RT @danpeake: Asteroid to just miss Earth on tonight’s flyby http://t.co/jNO4nRPx |
York University astronomer Paul Delaney told CTV's Canada AM, "NASA and other spacefaring agencies are out there trying to find credible ways to actually deflect these objects. According to the news organization, Delaney believes technology will be developed in the future to help divert an asteroid.
BBC News reports that the asteroid is "lazily spinning about once every 20 hours." Two radio telescopes in particular will be following the asteroid: the Goldstone Observatory in California and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
The Washington Post reports that NASA's search for threatening asteroids costs about $5 million each year.
NASA reports:
The last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this size will be in 2028.
Check out this video below by Discovery about how to stop an asteroid:
The Miami Herald tweets:
| @ MiamiHerald : Giant #asteroid watched closely on path near Earth, might reveal the "primordial ingredients of life" http://t.co/T7EtMhYT #space |
The Associated Press reports that since its discovery, scientists have learned that the asteroid's "surface is coal black, and it spins slowly through space."
CNN reports:
If the asteroid were to crash into Earth, it could cause a 4,000 megaton blast and a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, according to scientists at Purdue University.
The experts added that it could also cause a 70-foot high tsunami if it fell in the ocean.
| @ KING5Seattle : "We're 100 percent confident this is not a threat" - carrier-sized asteroid coming close to Earth: http://t.co/YqGEgV4F |
Check out some asteroid photos in the slideshow below:
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The Huffington Post By Timothy Stenovec
First Posted: 11/08/11 11:36 AM ET Updated: 11/08/11 07:24 PM ET