NASA Releases Radar Movie of Asteroid 2005 YU55
11.08.11
This six-frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55 was generated from data obtained by NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar on Nov. 7, 2011. › Download video
Asteroid 2005 YU55 This radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55 was obtained on Nov. 7, 2011, at 11:45 a.m. PST (2:45 p.m. EST/1945 UTC). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists working with the 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., have generated a short movie clip of asteroid 2005 YU55. The images were generated from data collected at Goldstone on Nov. 7, 2011, between 11:24 a.m. and 1:35 p.m. PST (2:24 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. EST). They are the highest-resolution images ever generated by radar of a near-Earth object.
The short movie clip can be found at: http://1.usa.gov/uVJvmS .
Each of the six frames required 20 minutes of data collection by the Goldstone radar. At the time, 2005 YU55 was approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from Earth. Resolution is 4 meters per pixel.
"The movie shows the small subset of images obtained at Goldstone on November 7 that have finished processing. By animating a sequence of radar images, we can see more surface detail than is visible otherwise," said radar astronomer Lance Benner, the principal investigator for the 2005 YU55 observations, from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The animation reveals a number of puzzling structures on the surface that we don't yet understand. To date, we've seen less than one half of the surface, so we expect more surprises."
The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach today at 3:28 p.m. PST (6:28 p.m. EST/2328 UTC), it was no closer than 201,700 miles (324,600 kilometers), as measured from the center of Earth. The gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on anything here on Earth, including our planet's tides or tectonic plates. Although 2005 YU55 is in an orbit that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth (and Venus and Mars), the 2011 encounter with Earth is the closest this space rock has come for at least the last 200 years.
The last time a space rock as big came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this large will be in 2028. NASA detects, tracks and characterizes asteroids and comets passing close to Earth using both ground- and space-based telescopes. The Near-Earth Object Observations Program, commonly called "Spaceguard," discovers these objects, characterizes a subset of them, and plots their orbits to determine if any could be potentially hazardous to our planet.
JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch . More information about asteroid radar research is at: http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/ . More information about the Deep Space Network is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=119737731
http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn ........................ ThatStinks2
Thanks Frank, I also found this event fascinating, so close, one would have thought that the gravitational pull of the earth would have caused the rock to hit the earth.....
It is best that we do not get too blase' about the closeness of asteroid 2005 YU55.
The next asteroid as big as 2005 YU55to come our way and even closer will be in 2028 when 2001 WN5 slips by at only 248,000 km, (154,000 miles) from the Earth.
They are getting closer so maybe it'll be third time lucky after 2028...............?
I wonder when I am due to die?
2028, Reckon the Yanks and the Arabs will have nuked the world by then anyhooooooo!
Well Michael you could be closer than you think not to dieing but by being hit by a meteorite one of the biggest is in the Arizona desert the Crater is nearly a mile across and 750 feet deep its attributed to a Meteor that was about 300.000 ton some 50.000 years ago and would have killed every thing for miles around. The second largest single meteorite the 34 Ton iron 'Ahnighito' is now in the American Museum of Natural History in New York The explorer Robert E. Peary in 1897 transported the 34 Ton iron monster from Cape York Greenland to the US and that was quite a perilous journey as the ships compass was useless due to the cargo it was caring.
Now the one that could give you a bit to worry about is the 66-ton Hoba meteorite its the world's largest and still lies were it fell half- buried in Northern Namibia so hopefully lightning does not strike twice or should I rephrase that and say meteorite, the crater below is out in Western Australia you may have heard of this one at Wolfe Creek.......................and it was a creepy film to boot..................................................... image04
(http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/assets/images/article/journal/7887/wolfe-creek-crater-image-2.jpg)
Nice pic Frank, but talking about closer to home , about 100 km North East of Oranjemund in the Sperrgebiedt, Lies the Roter Kamm, this one is about 2.5km wide and 130m deep , virtually untouched by man, as it is in the security area....
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/hisaythere2/RoterKamm.jpg)
The Hoba Meteorite (Namibia)... 60 tons.
Web URL below pic...
(http://www.marmet-meteorites.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/hoba.petra.a.jpg)
http://www.namibia-1on1.com/hoba-meteorite.html (http://www.namibia-1on1.com/hoba-meteorite.html)
My borther and I standing on Hoba Meteorite. Picture was taken in 1978.