NASA says its scientists will be tracking asteroid 2005 YU55 with antennas of the agency’s Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California, as the space rock flies past Earth slightly closer than the moon’s orbit on November 8, 2011. The asteroid’s orbit is well known, and it will not strike Earth.
NASA scientists have said they are treating the flyby of the 1,300-foot-wide (400-meter) asteroid as:
… a science target of opportunity – allowing instruments on “spacecraft Earth” to scan it during the close pass.
2005 YU55 asteroid will sweep near Earth November 8, 2011
Antenna for the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope Program. Image credit: NASA/JPL
Tracking of the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time (PDT) on November 4, using the massive 70-meter (230-foot) Deep Space Network antenna, and last for about two hours. The asteroid will continue to be tracked by Goldstone for at least four hours each day from November 6 through November 10. Radar observations from the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto Rico will begin on November 8, the same day the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 5:28 p.m. CST (23:28 UTC).
Image Credit: NASA
The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it will be no closer than 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers) or 0.85 the distance from the moon to Earth. According to NASA, the gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on anything here on Earth, including our planet’s tides or tectonic plates. Although 2005 YU55 is in an orbit that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth (and Venus and Mars), the 2011 encounter with Earth is the closest this space rock has come for at least the last 200 years.
During tracking, scientists will use the Goldstone and Arecibo antennas to bounce radio waves off the space rock. Radar echoes returned from 2005 YU55 will be collected and analyzed. NASA scientists hope to obtain images of the asteroid from Goldstone as fine as about 7 feet (2 meters) per pixel. This should reveal a wealth of detail about the asteroid’s surface features, shape, dimensions and other physical properties.
YU55 as seen in April 2010 by Arecibo in Puerto Rico. Image Credit: NASA
Arecibo radar observations of asteroid 2005 YU55 made in 2010 show it to be approximately spherical in shape. It is slowly spinning, with a rotation period of about 18 hours. The asteroid’s surface is darker than charcoal at optical wavelengths. Amateur astronomers who want to get a glimpse at YU55 will need a telescope with an aperture of 6 inches (15 centimeters) or larger.
The last time a space rock as big 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 large will be in 2028.
NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called “Spaceguard,” discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called “Spaceguard,” discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them
How come the diagram of the trajectory of this asteroid (small as it is) doesn’t seem to show it being affected by Earth’s gravity?
Ronald, gravity depends on two things – mass and distance. When something is close to us, our gravity can affect it. But when that something has a very small mass – as this asteroid does – our gravity affects it only a little bit. On the scale of this diagram, you can’t even see that effect.
All the best!
Deborah
200-400 meters depending on which site you go to, isn’t that small.
Hi earthsky i live in Austin Tx and i very interested to see it with my binoculars you know to where i got watch so what part of sky (east west north) thank you i waiting your answer.
The article said “Amateur astronomers who want to get a glimpse at YU55 will need a telescope with an aperture of 6 inches (15 centimeters) or larger. ”
Unless you have amazing binoculars… not sure you’re going to see much.
Looks like the asteroid is closest on the 9th, not the 8th.
Even if you want to argue semantics, it *passes* the Earth’s orbit on the 9th also.
Can we really trust these handouts from the Govt financed institutions? I surely
don’t think they would tell is the truth if the *sky was falling*.
Don
If you think the government would feed us mis-information on a threat to our well-being at a planetary scale, then why say anything at all? Not saying its not possible, just… no sense in making us slightly aware of a situation that we are otherwise oblivious to.
Will I be able to see this asteroid w/ naked eye ?? When would it be best to view from Wisconsin ??? I hope it misses us as predicted.
I’d expected many more comments as the countdown nears nought, not silence. 6 days
have gone by, not even a whisper? Weird !!!!
How come the Solar Flare of 1859 could make such an impact on the country yet this one, with technology so much further advanced, won’t do ANYTHING!!!
For the first time in my life I have been alarmed not because of the passing by of YU55 on this November, being sure that it will really pass by the earth, but by all the hazardous celestial bodies which could threat the earth. I realized the fragility of our planet and the life on it, in case that we are alone in the universe. So I think that any endeavor in space exploration is an emergency.