Asteroid 2005 YU55 - Coming Soon to a Planet Near You

Just an update, I googled "2005 YU55" It looks like this is big news in Russia. If you google "2005 YU55" after the first 50 or so hits, it's all Russian. There are 12800. You would think that an object that is larger than Apophis and that may hit just before 2012 would be bigger news here in the US.

Not sure how you get that I googled it and saw no Russian page till page three... first page has NASA links

2005 YU55 Impact Risk
2005 YU55 Earth Impact Table. Date, Distance, Width, Sigma Impact, Sigma LOV, Stretch LOV, Impact Probability, Impact Energy, Palermo Scale, Torino ...
neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/2005yu55.html - 67k - Cached - Similar pages

2005 YU55
Title: 2005 YU55. Authors: Scotti, J. V.; McMillan, R. S.; Hug, G.; Tibbets, D.; Spahr, T. B.. Publication: Minor Planet Electronic Circ., 2005-Y47 (2005). ...
adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005MPEC....Y...47S -

Near Earth Object Fact Sheet
... 2005 GY8 2005 YU55 2093 Nov 9 0.0027 22.0 170 1.22 1.141 0.429 0.5 2005 YU55 ... 1998 SF36 - Near-Earth asteroid target of 2005 orbit and 2007 sample ...
nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/neofact.html - 21k -

The Spacewatch Project News
2005. Discovery and Followup Observations of Small Apollo Asteroid 2005 YU55. This object, while not initially labeled a PHA by the MPC, turned out to have ...
spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/news.html - 2k -

New announcements of observing campaigns by the Spaceguard Central ...
2010: 22.5 - 22.8 V, 40', H = 19.7 VIs starting in 2053 2005 YU55 - Feb. 2010/Apr. 2010: 23.0 - 15.0 V, 30-360', H = 22.0, Close encounter - Jan. 2011/Feb. ...
spaceguard.esa.int/SSystem/NEOCS/VIs2.html - 9k -

LOL YU55 sounds too much like Y2K...

I don't think it will even hit earth The Government will just shoot it with that ray gun they bought from Kmart

If on the other hand it hits i hope your house insurance is payed up

reply to post by zorgon


Actually I was on page 5 when I saw the Russians, at 10 per page, that's how I came up with 50. Still the point is that there huge difference in the number of english vs Russian pages. Most of the Engish stuff is old or incomplete.

hehe 1000 mile ice meteor landing in cyrstaline rock makes Major Global Changes:
The Earth is completely disrupted by the impact and its debris forms a new asteroid belt orbiting the sun between Venus and Mars.

Its coming soon, there's a few coming close to Earth in the next few weeks:

(2009 UX87) 09th April 2010 0 day(s) 0.1345 52.3 23 m - 51 m 7.17 km/s 25812 km/h
(2002 FQ5) 10th April 2010 1 day(s) 0.1637 63.7 200 m - 440 m 20.39 km/s 73404 km/h
(2008 GG2) 10th April 2010 1 day(s) 0.1447 56.3 77 m - 170 m 7.16 km/s 25776 km/h
(2004 FG11) 10th April 2010 1 day(s) 0.0648 25.2 180 m - 390 m 25.46 km/s 91656 km/h
(2010 FD7) 14th April 2010 5 day(s) 0.0830 32.3 99 m - 220 m 17.60 km/s 63360 km/h
218017 (2001 XV266) 15th April 2010 6 day(s) 0.1856 72.2 330 m - 730 m 6.52 km/s 23472 km/h
(2001 HC) 15th April 2010 6 day(s) 0.1693 65.9 500 m - 1.1 km 14.86 km/s 53496 km/h
(2009 BW2) 16th April 2010 7 day(s) 0.1254 48.8 25 m - 56 m 4.25 km/s 15300 km/h
(2010 CM44) 17th April 2010 8 day(s) 0.1966 76.5 370 m - 820 m 4.83 km/s 17388 km/h
(2009 BK2) 17th April 2010 8 day(s) 0.1880 73.1 23 m - 52 m 5.82 km/s 20952 km/h
(2004 HZ) 17th April 2010 8 day(s) 0.1767 68.8 95 m - 210 m 18.62 km/s 67032 km/h
(2010 EC43) 18th April 2010 9 day(s) 0.0432 16.8 68 m - 150 m 8.92 km/s 32112 km/h
(2010 FA6) 19th April 2010 10 day(s) 0.1090 42.4 37 m - 83 m 6.54 km/s 23544 km/h
(2005 YU55) 19th April 2010 10 day(s) 0.0152 5.9 110 m - 250 m 13.12 km/s 47232 km/h
(2008 UC202) 20th April 2010 11 day(s) 0.0980 38.1 6.0 m - 13 m 4.10 km/s 14760 km/h
(2009 UY19) 23rd April 2010 14 day(s) 0.0227 8.8 54 m - 120 m 4.81 km/s 17316 km/h

Well I just thought I would bump this topic as I did some looking into 2005 YU55 myself after watching a video From SkyIGR100.



well here is the image I got from the JPL Small-Body database Java applet program that tracks orbits.



My question is how much margin of error can there be in the calculations or are they pretty much spot on? That's pretty close and I hear its 185 meters large... Anyone else going to worry about, or is it going to be a near near miss?

I found this, published a week ago:

"At one time we had classified 2005 YU55 as a potential threat," said Steve Chesley, a scientist at JPL's Near-Earth Object Program Office. Prior to the Arecibo radar passes on April 19 thru 21, we had eliminated almost all upcoming Earth flybys as possibilities of impact. But there were a few that had a low remaining probability of impact. After incorporating the data from Arecibo, we were able to rule impacts out entirely for the next 100 years."

Source

There's also a small image of the asteroid on the page.

No need to worry, then?

reply to post by Karilla


If I did my simple math right, it would be closer to the earth than the moon would be on nov 9th 2011. So I wonder if it could hit the moon? Then cause a problem with the earth and moon. Being from what we know of the moon and its make up, anyone know what color it would burn if it was to enter our atmosphere? Just a hypothetical. Curiousity I guess

reply to post by graaly


I just did some searching on the position of the moon on nov 9th 2011 and by my estimations the asteroid comes within 53,000 miles of the moon

I used this site to find the distance from the sun to the moon and I used my original image of the orbits to find the distance of the object to the sun.

Would someone mind checking what I have done. Its doesnt seem like it will hit the moon but will come dang close.

I get the feeling that you don't appreciate the complexity of orbital mechanics. You can't just scribble a few numbers down on the back of an old envelope, and magically reveal close approach distances.

Well if we are about to be hit by an asteroid, you and I will be the last to know.
As of June 2009, the military has made all incoming space rocks "Classified!"

That means that amateur astronomers,many of whom are credited with "close calls", will no longer have access to the data they need to make crucial determinations.

I don't know about ya'll but if there is a solid iron ore bowling bowl, the size of of a football field, heading straight for me, I want as many eyes looking up as possible!

Not a time to pull "On a need to know basis"

link: www.space.com...

Pax

reply to post by Mogget



That's why in my post I ask if someone would check this, that has a better understanding then I do, but thanks for pointing out my high school level of math. Would you care to take a stab at it rather than flaming me?

If my Dance of the Planets software displayed close approach distances to the Moon, then I could check it. Unfortunately, it only displays the distance between the approaching object and Earth (in planet radii), so that doesn't really help.

Sorry for the critical response to your post. It's just that calculations of that sort require complex computer software, or a huge amount of spare time!

Well if we are about to be hit by an asteroid, you and I will be the last to know. As of June 2009, the military has made all incoming space rocks "Classified!"

If you check the link, you will see that only observations of incoming asteroids by classified military satellites are to be kept secret. There is no way that the US military could stop civilians from calculating the orbits of near Earth asteroids or comets (and neither would they want to). Many different organisations make these calculations (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California), and they will continue to do so in the future.

In short, if an asteroid or comet is discovered that appears to be on a collision course with Earth, you and I will get to know about it.

Originally posted by Mogget

Well if we are about to be hit by an asteroid, you and I will be the last to know. As of June 2009, the military has made all incoming space rocks "Classified!"

If you check the link, you will see that only observations of incoming asteroids by classified military satellites are to be kept secret. There is no way that the US military could stop civilians from calculating the orbits of near Earth asteroids or comets (and neither would they want to). Many different organisations make these calculations (including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California), and they will continue to do so in the future.

In short, if an asteroid or comet is discovered that appears to be on a collision course with Earth, you and I will get to know about it.

Let's be clear here:

A recent U.S. military policy decision now explicitly states that observations by hush-hush government spacecraft of incoming bolides and fireballs are classified secret and are not to be released,SPACE.com has learned.

The satellites' main objectives include detecting nuclear bomb tests, and their characterizations of asteroids and lesser meteoroids as they crash through the atmosphere Has Been a byproduct data bonanza for scientists.

Please note the term "observations by hush-hush government spacecraft" That means spy satellites. Observations by other satellites or ground based telescopes are NOT classified.

The term "incoming bolides and fireballs" refers to objects that are already entering the Earth's atmosphere. They would be relatively small objects, although potentially still capable of causing local damage. It's the larger asteroids and comet nuclei that we need to be very concerned about, and these would almost certainly be detected by ground based telescopes before any military satellite picked them up.

[edit on 13-5-2010 by Mogget]

thought this thread was relevant considering all the Elenin talk and therefore am bumping- also adding some new info

"Although classified as a potentially hazardous object, 2005 YU55 poses no threat of an Earth collision over at least the next 100 years. However, this will be the closest approach to date by an object this large that we know about in advance and an event of this type will not happen again until 2028 when asteroid (153814) 2001 WN5 will pass to within 0.6 lunar distances."

neo.jpl.nasa.gov...

Have been google for last 2 hours (maybe im just bad at it) bad i wounder WHAT IF , IF!! It hits earth, how much damage will it do? Hope someone can answear it getting really frustrated haha


if it hits

Europe ?

central europe?

US?
Russia?
Any sea close to land ?