NEO close encounter Nov 8-9

[Sam Fraser]

A close encounter of the harmless kind comes next Tuesday when an aircraft-carrier-size asteroid races past Earth.

The asteroid, dubbed 2005 YU55, will come within 202,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon, before zipping farther into space. Carbon-colored and dark, the asteroid measures some 1,300 feet wide... An asteroid of 2005 YU55's size landing in the ocean would trigger a magnitude-7.0 earthquake and 70-foot-high tsunami waves some 60 miles away.... Such impacts are thought to come about once every 100,000 years...

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/story/2011-11-01/asteroid-viewing-tuesday/51035012/1

Nice little interactive graphic there.

[Rhyshaelkan]

Yay we are doomed!!

[sgeos]

I wonder if future opportunists will capture asteroids the wander near the Earth...

[Sam Fraser]

For those who missed it:

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[JohnHunt]

Carbon-colored and dark

It's nice to know that we've known about this thing for five years already even though it is dark. I also appreciate the mention of a tidal wave which is far more likely than it actually hitting a populated area which is what is commonly mentioned.

Also, just because it passes "within" our orbit doesn't mean that it is always along the Earth/Moon plane. Imagine the graphic of an asteroid passing "through" the Earth when it fact it passes either above or below it.

I would think that the average time from discovery until impact would be tens of thousands of years at least. Even if it were going to impact us within our ability to calculate then I wound anticipate that it would be about at the 50% point of those calculations. So, something like 50 years. That would give far, far more than enough time to evacuate shorelines and even change building codes.

I'm always puzzled by the radar images showing reflection from the top of the asteroid when, as I understand, we are the source of the radar signals and so the entirety of the face facing us should be lit up.