[meteorite-list] NASA Captures New Images of Large Asteroid Passing Earth (2005 YU55)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 15:17:23 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201111072317.pA7NHNOa024877_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Nov. 7, 2011

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle at jpl.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 11-375

NASA CAPTURES NEW IMAGES OF LARGE ASTEROID PASSING EARTH

PASADENA -- NASA's Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone, Calif. has
captured new radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 passing close to
Earth.

The asteroid safely will fly past our planet slightly closer than the
moon's orbit on Nov. 8. 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.

The image was taken on Nov. 7 at 11:45 a.m. PST, when the asteroid was
approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from
Earth. Tracking of the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid began at
Goldstone at 9:30 a.m. PDT on Nov. 4 with the 230-foot-wide
(70-meter) antenna and lasted about two hours, with an additional
four hours of tracking planned each day from Nov. 6 - 10.

Radar observations from the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto
Rico will begin Nov. 8, the same day the asteroid will make its
closest approach to Earth at 3:28 p.m. PST.

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) as measured from the center of Earth, or about 0.85 times
the distance from the moon to Earth. The gravitational influence of
the asteroid will have no detectable effect on Earth, including tides
and tectonic plates. Although the asteroid is in an orbit that
regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth, Venus and Mars, the
2011 encounter with Earth is the closest it has come for at least the
last 200 years.

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 at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., commonly called "Spaceguard,"
discovers these objects, characterizes some of them, and plots their
orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our
planet. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The new radar images are online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/multimedia/yu55-20111107.html

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

More information about asteroid radar research is available online at:

http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/

For more information about NASA's Deep Space Network, visit:

http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn

-end-
Received on Mon 07 Nov 2011 06:17:23 PM PST