Quarter-Mile-Wide Asteroid To Pass Between Earth And Moon

BI:  The asteroid is larger than America's largest aircraft carrier and it will slip between the moon and the earth on Tuesday.

The AP reports it's the earth's closest brush with such a monster space rock in 35 years, but scientists say there is nothing to worry about (via Stars and Stripes).

Don Yoemans of NASA says "We're extremely confident, 100 percent confident, that this is not a threat."

The last time the asteroid, called 2005 YU55, came this close to earth was 200 years ago. Headed to earth from the direction of the sun, the closest approach will be at 6:28 p.m. EST Tuesday when YU55 will pass within 202,000 miles of earth.

The AP reports:

If 2005 YU55 were to plow into the home planet, it would blast out a crater four miles across and 1,700 feet deep, according to Melosh's calculations. Think a magnitude-7 earthquake and 70-foot-high tsunami waves.

Scientists estimate an asteroid of this size strikes the earth about once every 100,000 years.

Astronomers say no other object of this size will approach the earth again until 2028.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/this-quarter-mile-wide-asteroid-is-about-to-pass-between-the-earth-and-the-moon-2011-11#ixzz1cqDnZy4A