Check this out. Asteroid 2005 YU55 comes pretty close. 0.0022 AU, Nov. 9 2011

DOOM ON!

Thats one of elenins rocks.

"It reveals 2005 YU55 as a spherical object about 400 meters (1,300 feet) in size."

Spherical at 1,300 feet in diameter? How un-natural.

"Near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 was "imaged" by the Arecibo Radar Telescope in Puerto Rico on April 19. Data collected during Arecibo's observation of 2005 YU55 allowed the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to refine the space rock's orbit, allowing scientists to rule out any possibility of an Earth impact for the next 100 years. " --
[link to www.nasa.gov]

No possibility of Earth impact for the next 100 years... they say nothing about a Lunar impact. I think its time that NASA starting including possibilities or non-possibilities of Lunar impact of such Earth orbit crossing asteroids.

It's still pretty far away from earth, but it could hit our moon...

and with no atmosphere to protect, the impact would make a nice show for us (maybe).

400 meters? That's a lot.

ELEven NINe
:doom:

[link to science.nasa.gov]


June 13, 2006: There's a new crater on the Moon. It's about 14 meters wide, 3 meters deep and precisely one month, eleven days old.

NASA astronomers watched it form: "On May 2, 2006, a meteoroid hit the Moon's Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubium) with 17 billion joules of kinetic energy that's about the same as 4 tons of TNT

Taking into account the duration of the flash and its brightness (7th magnitude), Cooke was able to estimate the energy of impact, the dimensions of the crater, and the size and speed of the meteoroid. "It was a space rock about 10 inches (25 cm) wide traveling 85,000 mph (38 km/s)," he says.



Now imagine what this (400m) asteroid could do

Last Edited by Lnx on 03/16/2011 07:16 AM

They publish the minimum distance to earth. And you can take the orbital elements and enter them in your favorite planetarium software and see if they make sense and track it yourself.

Here is some more on YU55 I posted a ways back.

Thread: 11/8/11 -- Asteroid YU55 to be NASA Radar target -- 4 x bigger than Elenin -- closest @ biggest since 1976.

[link to neo.jpl.nasa.gov]

0.00160 AU November 9 at 07:13 UT

NEO A2005 YU55
on
11-9-11
is
now
a
239 356.8 kilometer
skimmer

Will Elenin & Honda, or any other unconsidered forces, affect it for further adjustment?

Not an ELE if the size and mass are close to accurate, but a wicked bullet if it does hit.

Elenin, Honda, and this will cross path

According to the latest JPL calculations, the perigee of 0.00217 AU (325,000 km or 202,000 miles) from the Earth's center will come on 2011 NOV 08 at 23:28 UT (18:28 EST).

I’ve found a nice webpage with excellent graphics for this asteroid including a cool animation: [link to www.curtrenz.com]

indeed, It will definetly push it right into us!

25ft per pixel = Arecibo's high-precision radar astrometry capability = 96 BazillaGillion Dollars

According to JPL its going to collide with earth...

Could do a number on the moon. Obviously it could do far less to earth since the atmosphere would degrade it significantly.