Rocketboom

On Nov. 8, 6:28 p.m. EST a huge asteroid will pass within 201,000 miles of Earth. Ummm… that’s closer than the moon. The 1,312-foot object dubbed 2005 YU55 will be visible from the northern hemisphere, although it will be too dim and far away to see with your inferior naked eyes without a pretty good telescope. 

Though 2005 YU55 will temporarily displace the moon as our nearest extraterrestrial neighbor, there is no need for panic, and no plans to scramble an rocket-crew of hard-nosed miners to blow our erstwhile guest to stardust whilst an Aerosmith anthem plays in the background. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab researcher, Lance Brenner, we’re safe… for the time being. Brenner assures “2005 YU55 cannot hit earth… at least over the interval we can compute the motion reliably, which extends for several hundred years.” That’s geek-speak meaning the orbit of 2005 YU55 is well-enough known that we can rule out an impact for at least the next century or so. While this gives us the all-clear, it further reinforces the notion that the future remains bleak for our children’s children’s children: rising global temperatures, dwindling natural resources, stagnating economies, shrinking social security assurances, and now, unpredictable asteroid motion intervals! Poor kids :(

Interestingly, this will be the second time the interloping space-traveller has visited the earth in recent years — it made another close pass in 2010. Query whether the Man in the Moon is becoming suspicious of Mother Earth’s continued close encounters with the younger, hipper space-renegade, 2005 YU55. [sigh] Love fades after 4+ billion years together. Oh well, here’s to hoping we can keep the fam together, at least for the holidays!

Here’s an animation of the asteroid’s path as it passes earth.