An asteroid 1,300 feet in diameter will pass in between the moon and our Earth on Tuesday. At 6:28 pm eastern standard time the asteroid will pass closest to the Earth. It will pass by the Earth at about 202,000 miles away and around 30,500 miles per hour.
"It is the first time since 1976 that an object of this size has passed this closely to the Earth. It gives us a great and rare chance to study a near-Earth object like this," said astronomer Scott Fisher, a program director with the National Science Foundation.
YU 55 will not be in a collision course with Earth. Computer models showing the asteroid's path for the next 100 years reveal there is no chance it will hit Earth during that time. The asteroid is suspected to have been visiting Earth for thousands of years.
The asteroid light will be too dim to see with the naked eye and too fast to view by the Hubble telescope. For amateur and professional astronomers that are tracking YU 55’s approach, it will be visible from Earth’s northern hemisphere.
What is the asteroid made out of?
Studies done by scientists show the asteroid, which is blacker than charcoal, is called a C-type asteroid that is most likely made of carbon-based materials and silicate rock.
As the asteroid passes radar images will be taken and chemical studies will be conducted of its light. This will give more clues into the composition and structure of the asteroid.
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