On November 8, 2011 at 6:28p.m. EST, an asteroid the size of a battle ship, or the length of 4 football fields will pass inside the orbit of the Moon at a distance of 201,700 miles (325,000 kilometers). There hasn’t been an asteroid that passed this close to Earth in 35 years. NASA has ensured the world that asteroid 2005 YU55 will not hit the Earth, or the Moon. Below I have attached a picture of the projected path of the asteroid and where it is in relation to the Earth and the Moon.
Animation of the trajectory of Asteroid 2005 YU55. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The orbit of this asteroid has been studied very well since it's discovery in 2005 that there is nothing it will do to the Earth or to our Moon. It may be passing between the Earth and the Moon but it's orbit is a bit above the plane of the Earth-Moon alignment. 2005 YU55 has a miniscule amount of gravity and will not cause any earthquakes on Earth. It won't hit or leave any debris in it's trail, and it's not hiding Planet X, or Nibiru. It's simply not going to affect the Earth or the billions of people on it. Needed to clear that up as I've been seeing a lot of people saying this asteroid will impact the Earth, and some saying it will destroy our Moon. Unfortunately for these people saying it's going to hit the Earth they will have to move onto the next NEO (Near Earth Object) just as they did when C/2010 X1 (Comet Elenin) disintegrated before reaching it's pass of Earth.
Asteroid 2005 YU55 although close to Earth will still be quite dim at only a magnitude of 11.6 reaching it's brightest magnitude of 11.1 making it invisible to the naked eye. The Moon will be near to full making it even more difficult to spot such a dim object. You will most likely need at least a 6inch telescope to see YU55, although I may still give it a shot with my 4.5inch and see what I come up with... that's if the skies are clear here on Tuesday evening.
Radar image of Asteroid 2005 YU55 taken in April of 2010. Image credit: NASA/Cornell/Arecibo
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