A massive aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid is headed in Earth's direction. Scientists say it will not impact the planet but it will pass closer to the Earth than lunar orbit. And it's the largest asteroid that will pass by Earth for the the next decade and a half.
According to the astronomers and scientists at the Near Earth Object (NEO) Project, a gigantic piece of space rock, what could be called a killer asteroid, is barreling through the heavens on its way to a crossing point with Earth orbit. Luckily for the denizens of the third planet from the sun, it will still be .8 lunar distance units (180,000 miles) away from their world when it crosses that orbit point.
NASA classifies asteroid 2005 YU55 as a "potentially hazardous object," but astronomers at NEO maintain that there is no chance of a collision on this passage by the Earth (asteroids and other objects have a gravitational relationship with the sun and, unless interfered with in some way, will usually maintain some type of orbital pattern), rendering the planet safe from 2005 YU55 for at least 100 years.
The NEO Project recently reported the completion of the mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer in identifying and cataloguing near Earth objects. The study found that there were 40 percent fewer mid-range asteroids (from 330 feet in diameter to 3,300 feet) in the solar system than previously theorized and that, of all those asteroids located, none were on a collision course with Earth anytime soon. However, the study also concluded that they had found only 90 percent of the Solar System's asteroids.
Ten percent of the asteroids left undiscovered are massive rocks that could potentially have a devastating effect if they were to collide with Earth.
As to the mid-range asteroid (1,312 feet wide) currently headed in the general direction of Earth, according to CNN, an expert at Purdue University noted that if such a killer asteroid were to impact the planet, it would have the same effect as a 4,000 megaton blast or a magnitude 7.0 earthquake. If the asteroid were to land in the ocean, it could potentially cause a 70-foot high tsunami within 60 miles of the crash epicenter.
To compare, the meteor that is believed to have flashed across the sky in the Tunguska region of Siberia, Russia in 1908 has been estimated to have been only 120 feet in diameter. It has been theorized that the airburst from that blast was the equivalent of 185 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs (releasing energy at an outside range of 18 kilotons per bomb). The remote area saw forests laid low and burned for in a zone measuring 830 square miles from the blast's epicenter. Asteroid 2005 YU55, if it were to impact the Earth, would release energy equivalent to 222,222 Hiroshima-sized bombs.
And that is still far smaller than the Chicxulub asteroid that impacted off the Yucatan peninsula over 65 million years ago and is believed to have been the most significant causal contribution to the massive dinosaur die-off and the K-T mass extinction event. That asteroid was estimated to be 6-9 miles wide, releasing the same energy as a billion Hiroshima-sized atomic blasts.
Not to let an opportunity pass, though, astronomers are expected to take advantage of the near miss passage of the asteroid. It is a rare occasion that scientists are able to view asteroids via optical lenses. NASA will join the skywatch as well, using the Goldstone radar telescopes in the Mojave desert to study the massive space rock. The giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico is expected to devote several days to high resolution mapping as well.
Asteroid 2005 YU55 will pass closest to Earth on Nov. 8. It will be a daylight object and those wishing to get a glimpse will have their best chance after 4 p.m. EST.
(photo credit: Don Davis/NASA, Wikimedia Commons)
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
