Despite coming closer than the moon, the asteroid poses no threat to the Earth. Picture: Courtesy of NASA Source: NASA
- Massive asteroid will pass closer than the moon
- Won't wipe us out - this time
- You're thinking of Apophis, in 2036
A MASSIVE asteroid will make a rare fly-by on Wednesday, and although it poses no danger of crashing to Earth, US scientists said this week they are eager for a closer look.
"This is not a potentially hazardous asteroid, just a good opportunity to study one," said National Science Foundation astronomer Thomas Statler.
The circular asteroid, named 2005 YU55, is about 400m wide and will come closer than the moon, zipping by at a distance of 325,000km, the US space agency NASAsaid.
The time of the nearest flyby is expected to be at 10.38am Wednesday (AEDT).
The encounter will be the closest by an asteroid of that size since 2005 YU55 itself snuck by unnoticed in 1976.
A similar event will not happen again until 2028.
After that, we'll all get an uncomfortably close look at Apophis, the 300m wide asteroid that Russian scientists say could hit Earth in 2036.
Those who want to get a sneak preview of what impending doom may look like will need a telescope. NASA recommends an aperture of at least 15cm.
2005 YU55 is "going to be pretty faint when it flies by", said Scott Fisher, program director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Astronomical Sciences.
"It will not be visible to the naked eye. You will need a telescope that has a mirror at least six inches in size to see it.
"To make it even more difficult to observe, it will be moving very quickly across the sky as it passes."
No such trouble for NASA - this time around, they'll catch 2005 YU55 with their Deep Space Network Antenna at Goldstone, California.
Several other radar telescopes are set up in North America to catch glimpses of the space rock, Mr Fisher added.
Astronomers who have studied the object, part of the C-class of asteroids, say it is very dark, like the colour of charcoal, and quite porous.
It was first discovered in 2005 by Robert McMillan of the Spacewatch Project, a solar-system-scanning group of scientists near Tucson, Arizona.
While 2005 YU55 will stay a safe distance away, it is part of a crew of 1262 big asteroids circling the Sun and measuring more than 150m across that NASA classifies as "potentially hazardous."
"We want to study these asteroids so if one does look like it may hit us someday, we'll know what to do about it," Mr Statler said.
If we survive Apophis in 2036 - and 1999 RQ36 in 2060 - the asteroid's closest pass is set to take place in 2094, at a distance of 269,000km, according to forecasts.
"The observations will give us a piece of the puzzle, one we don't get many chances to see," said Don Yeomans of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"At one time, we thought these were the asteroids that delivered carbon and other elements to the early Earth, so they are pretty important."
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