1,312 foot Asteroid headed for close passing to Earth

A 1,312 foot diameter asteroid is said to be on a close path to Earth and will pass closer than the moon at 23.28 GMT Tuesday. It will pass Earth as a distance of around 201,000 miles from our planet.

Scott Fisher, a program director with the National Science Foundation said in a web conference “It is the first time since 1976 that an object of this size has passed this closely to the Earth. It gives us a great — and rare — chance to study a near-Earth object like this.”

According to analysis, there is no chance that the asteroid will impact Earth. Thousands of astronomers are expected to track Asteroid 2005 YU 55 and it will be visible from the planet's northern hemisphere. It will be too dim to spot with the naked eye however and is apparently traveling too fast to be tracked by the Hubble Telescope.

Reports indicate that the best place for observation would be from the East Coast of the US. Scientists recommend a decent size telescope to see the object as it passes.

The orbit of the asteroid has been calculated for the next 100 years and they show it will never impact Earth. It is classed as a C type asteroid, blacker than charcoal, probably made from carbon based materials and some silicate rock.

Kitguru says: No chance of impact then, so we are safe for a while yet.

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