*I'm going to go ahead and call BS on the person that said yu55 was too small to cause significant damage***

Now, I know jack poop about astronomy, I know I love it and its awesome.

I'm not calling a doomerific good time for yu55 but I read a thread a week or so ago saying nothing would significant would happen if yu55 hit us.


Well today I read this

Clip

Program Description
The Apophis asteroid appears in telescopes as nothing more than a moving speck of light. But the latest data tell us that this rock is bigger than the Rose Bowl and is hurtling towards Earth on what could be a collision course. Most unsettling, if it struck it would release the energy of 100 nuclear bombs. NOVA scienceNOW host Neil Tyson investigates this disturbing threat in our solar system.


When seen even through our most powerful telescopes, Apophis shows up as nothing more than just a moving speck of light, but the latest data tell us that this asteroid may be as wide as a thousand feet. That's bigger than the Rose Bowl.
*my note* isn't yu55 1300 feet wide?

JONATHAN GIORGINI: If Apophis did impact, it would impact at around seven and a half miles per second, and all that energy has to go somewhere. It would leave a blast area of around 60 to 100 miles across, and it would dissipate energy about equal to 100 nuclear bombs going off at the same time.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: An asteroid the size of Apophis, if it hit land, could devastate several counties in, say, southern California. But if Apophis passes through the center of the keyhole, it will slam into the Pacific Ocean, nearly 1,000 miles off the California Coast, and that could be a lot worse.

RUSTY SCHWEICKART: If it hits in the ocean or in the water, it's going to create a very significant tsunami.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: I met up with Rusty Schweickart to find out what that tsunami might do to Santa Monica Beach.

RUSTY SCHWEICKART: We would have three and a half hours of waves, 55 feet high and larger, crashing onto this shore.

[link to www.pbs.org]


I can't find the thread now, nor do I recall who said it but anyway, there you have it an asteroid the size of yu55 could cause chaotic destruction.