Monster asteroid labelled 'potentially hazardous' by NASA

by Steven Mostyn - May 6 2011, 07:25

Stock up on perishable goods, pump your 12-gauge, strap on your aluminium foil hat, and crawl under the nearest table… because there’s a hulking great asteroid hurtling towards Earth.

Although boffins at NASA believe the “potentially hazardous” YU55 asteroid will not strike the planet, they claim it is the biggest ever chunk of galactic detritus to pass within assisted viewing distance thanks to a width of 1,300 feet.

Expected to arrive before the close of 2011, the 55-million tonne rock will hurtle between the Earth and the moon at a distance of just 200,000 miles and should be quite the spectacle for telescope-toting enthusiasts.

“YU55 poses no threat of an Earth collision over, as the very least, the next 100 years,” commented NASA spokesman Dave Yeomans in a statement.

“During its closest approach, its gravitational effect on the Earth will be so minuscule as to be immeasurable,” he added. “It will not affect the tides or anything else.”

When and if YU55 impacts the planet, it will carry with it the force of 65,000 atomic bombs and the resulting crater will measure six miles across and some 2,000 feet deep.

It goes without saying that debris thrown up into the atmosphere would block out the sun, pollute the air, and pose a serious threat to the existence of all life on Earth. Sweet.

Weather permitting, the gigantic asteroid will be viewable in the night sky between November 8 and November 9.

YU55 will return to Earth in 2015 after it completes another long 14-year orbit of the sun.

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