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Big asteroid has close encounter with Earth
Source: Agencies |
November 9, 2011, Wednesday
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A black asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier zoomed past Earth yesterday, delighting astronomers who trained telescopes on the ancient body in hopes of learning more about its composition and origin.
With a diameter estimated at 400 meters, or about a quarter of a mile, Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the biggest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth since 1976.
During its closest approach, which occurred at 11:28pm GMT, it was inside the orbit of the moon, about 200,000 miles (322,000 km) above the planet. It posed no threat to either.
Thousands of professional and amateur astronomers were tracking the asteroid with telescopes, seeking to learn more about what it is made of, how fast it spins and ultimately, where it came from.
"It was pretty easy to find," astronomer Ronald Dantowitz, director of the student-run Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts, told Reuters. "It's moving differently than the stars are moving. It looks like a giant rock floating through space."
With automated controls for tracking, the asteroid appeared to be fixed in position, while background stars were a blur, Dantowitz said. The asteroid, however, was moving at about 30,000 mph (48.000 kph).
Astronomers believe YU 55 has been visiting Earth for thousands of years, nudged out of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter after a gravitational elbowing by Jupiter.
With a diameter estimated at 400 meters, or about a quarter of a mile, Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the biggest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth since 1976.
During its closest approach, which occurred at 11:28pm GMT, it was inside the orbit of the moon, about 200,000 miles (322,000 km) above the planet. It posed no threat to either.
Thousands of professional and amateur astronomers were tracking the asteroid with telescopes, seeking to learn more about what it is made of, how fast it spins and ultimately, where it came from.
"It was pretty easy to find," astronomer Ronald Dantowitz, director of the student-run Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts, told Reuters. "It's moving differently than the stars are moving. It looks like a giant rock floating through space."
With automated controls for tracking, the asteroid appeared to be fixed in position, while background stars were a blur, Dantowitz said. The asteroid, however, was moving at about 30,000 mph (48.000 kph).
Astronomers believe YU 55 has been visiting Earth for thousands of years, nudged out of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter after a gravitational elbowing by Jupiter.
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