NASA scientists are closely monitoring asteroid 2055 YU55 for at least four hours daily from November 6 through November 10. On November 8 at 3:28 p.m. PST, the asteroid will be approximately 201,700 miles from the Earth. This will make the asteroid closer to the Earth than the moon.
Asteroid 2055 YU55 is one of about 8,500 near-Earth objects catalogued to date. What makes this event special is that its orbital path carries it safely past Earth within the moon’s orbit in early November, 2011.
The last time a large space rock came this close to Earth was in 1976. The next approach is expected in 2028.
Scientist studied 2005 YU55 in April of 2010 and discovered the rock was about 400 meters in size and spinning slowly, with a rotation period of around 18 hours.
It’s been determined that the gravitation influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on Earth, including the tides and tectonic plates.