Asteroid will fly past Earth on Tuesday
07 Nov 2011
Space experts are unconcerned about a fly-past by an asteroid, the size of an aircraft carrier, which will come closer to Earth than the Moon on Tuesday. They say there is no cause for alarm, they say, as the 1,300ft wide asteroid, dubbed the 2005 YU55, is slated to miss Earth by 201,700 miles.
Experts consider this to be a comfortably safe margin.
They also said the object may be spotted by amateur astronomers with suitable equipment but it will be hard to see.
Scientists will also be tracking the asteroid's fly-past by radar using ground-based antennae in California and Puerto Rico.
If the asteroid hit the Earth, scientists reckon it was likely to unleash a 4,000-megaton blast, which would be in multiples of the yield of the most powerful H-bomb in existence. The impact could wipe out a city the size of London or New York.
If the 2005 YU55 should land in the sea it would cause a 70ft high tsunami.
