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. It will be the closest visit by a space rock this size in more than three decades. "This is not a potentially hazardous asteroid, just a good opportunity to study one," National Science Foundation astronomer Thomas Statler says. NASA and the NSF plan a series of radar telescope and other observations starting Friday, aimed at mapping the asteroid's surface and chemistry. MORE: Science and space news "The radar measurements should be pretty spectacular," Statler says. "A lot of asteroids are out there, so the more we know about them, the better," says astronomer Phil Plait of Discover Magazine's BadAstronomer blog. "This one is a clean miss, but we are going to learn a lot of science from it passing by." In July, NASA's Dawn mission went into orbit around the 330-mile-wide asteroid Vesta in
Raymond Clough dnomyar34@raymondclough.com
CTV.ca - 2 minutes ago AP CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - An asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier will dart between the Earth and moon on Tuesday -- the closest encounter by such a huge rock in 35 years. |
Browse all of today's headlines on Google News
No comments:
Post a Comment