NASA's 70m Deep Space Network antenna in Goldstone has captured new radar images of Asteroid 2005 YU55 as it approaches Earth for a close - but safe - passage this evening.

The asteroid safely will safely fly past our planet slightly closer than the moon's orbit on Nov. 8. The last time a space rock this large came as close to Earth was in 1976, although astronomers did not know about the flyby at the time. The next known approach of an asteroid this size will be in 2028.

The image was taken on Nov. 7 at 7:45pm UT, when the asteroid was 1,38 million km from Earth. Tracking of the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid began Nov. 4 with the 70m antenna and lasted about 2 hours, with an additional 4 hours of tracking planned each day from Nov. 6 - 10.

Radar observations from the Arecibo Planetary Radar Facility in Puerto Rico will begin Nov. 8, the same day the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 11.28am UT.

The trajectory of asteroid 2005 YU55 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it will be no closer than 324 600km as measured from the center of Earth, or about 0,85x the distance from the moon to Earth.  The gravitational influence of the asteroid will have no detectable effect on Earth, including tides and tectonic plates. Although the asteroid is in an orbit that regularly brings it to the vicinity of Earth, Venus and Mars, the 2011 encounter with Earth is the closest it has come for at least the last 200 years. 

Source: NASA