Located in the Goldstone (California) antenna NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) received the first of a series of images of the asteroid 2005 YU55. This cosmic block is in the list of those that may in the future cause a catastrophe on our planet.
A DSN is a 70-meter radio antenna that is capable of capturing the small celestial bodies like asteroids. In this case, the size of the asteroid corresponds to about aircraft-carrier"he approaches the Earth at a relatively close to the space measures the distance that simplifies the task of his research.
During the start of the observation 7 November object has been removed from the Earth at a distance of 1.38 million kilometers. on November 8 asteroid approached the minimum distance to the Earth (324,6 thousand kilometers from the center of the planet - 0.85 times the distance to the Moon). Additional studies will be conducted on November 10. The orbit of the asteroid is such that he regularly gets in the field of Earth, Venus and Mars, but in 2011, he found himself close to our planet for at least the last 200 years.
The cases, when such large asteroids as 2005 YU55, are so close to the Earth, is very rare. The last time such an event was recorded in 1976, and the next time it is expected not earlier than 2028. Technology for the monitoring of this kind of celestial bodies have started to develop actively in recent years.
Related posts:
.png)