Asteroid 2005 YU55
Posted in Astronomy at 19:40 on 9 November 2011
In case you’re wondering this is the asteroid that had a close encounter with the Earth yesterday; coming nearer than the Moon does.
There was no danger of contact but apparently if it had struck the Earth it would have had the effect of a magnitude seven earthquake – severe enough but imagine if it hit a city. (Worse damage would have been caused if it had fallen in the ocean and triggered a tsunami.)
(Via Astronomy Picture of the Day and NASA.)
The video is of radar images, comprises six stills and is looped five times. At the time it was about 800,000,000 miles away: 3-4 times the Moon-Earth distance.
Tags: Asteroid 2005 YU55, Astronomy, Astronomy Picture of the Day
taryn rose shoes
10 November 2011 at 04:53
This question is for a “rocket scientist”. I’ve seen drawings of the asteroid belt that look like a dense ring around the solar system, but I suspect those are exaggerations. Are there any real photos of the asteroid belt? There should be since the Voyagers and other craft have passed throgh them.
jackdeighton
10 November 2011 at 19:24
I’m not sure if there are photos of the asteroid belt as such.
There definitely are of individual asteroids.
They are on average a large distance apart from each other – much more than the Moon-Earth distance certainly.