Biggest asteroid in 35 years swings close to Earth
By ALICIA CHANG
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
LOS ANGELES — An asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier zipped by Earth on Tuesday in the closest encounter by such a massive space rock in more than three decades. Scientists ruled out any chance of a collision but turned their telescopes skyward to learn more about the object known as 2005 YU55.
Its closest approach to Earth was pegged at a distance of 202,000 miles at 6:28 p.m. EST. That's just inside the moon's orbit; the average distance between Earth and the moon is 239,000 miles.
The last time a large cosmic interloper came that close to Earth was in 1976, and experts say it won't happen again until 2028. the rest
NASA video released:
posted by Pat Dague @ 7:38 PM
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