Asteroid To Skim by Earth Next Tuesday

2005 Yu55 will come closer to the planet than any other big asteroid in more than three decades, but at least NASA's watching it this time.

Next Tuesday, an asteroid the size of an aircraft carrier will come tantalizingly close to smacking into Earth before passing by and continuing on its orbit. The asteroid, named 2005 Yu55 (just rolls of the tongue, that) will come within 324,600 kilometres of Earth, which is even closer to our planet than the moon. And while 2005 Yu55 won't hit the planet with a force that could obliterate a city the size of Ottawa (this time), NASA will take the opportunity to see what they can learn about this close call for the next time a heavenly body decides to set its sights on Earth. After all, in 1976, the last time an asteroid this size came this close to Earth, NASA totally didn't even know it was happening, which probably led to some screenwriter convincing Hollywood executives to greenlight Armageddon. Since no one wants that to happen again, NASA's deploying an array of fancy antennae to help us plan for the next fly-by, set for 2028, and/or figure out how to send Bruce Willis to land on it and blow it to high heaven with a nuke.