Corporal “SniffSnaffSnugg” Clegg's video: Asteroid YU55 First Pictures Erste Bilder November 8 2011

Amazing footage taken from private Observatory in Germany --- The space rock is due to cross Earth's orbit just 198,000 miles (324,600km) behind the planet at 11.28pm UK time tonight. That is just over three hours at the Earth's orbiting speed - a near miss in cosmic terms. It is nearer to the Earth than the Moon, and the event is our closest encounter with such a large asteroid since 1976. But Marina Brozovic of Nasa said there is no cause for alarm. "It is not going to hit us," she said. "We have a good idea of its orbit for the next 100 years and there is no chance of impact." If the 0.5km asteroid had hit the Earth it would have unleashed a 4,000 megaton blast - enough to destroy a city the size of London. Marek Kukula, public astronomer at the Greenwich Royal Observatory, said: "This asteroid is bigger than any mountain in Britain. It's not dangerous, but it has strayed into our cosmic backyard." Observations by the Aricebo telescope last year revealed that 2005 YU55 is roughly spherical in shape, slowly tumbling and darker than charcoal. Nasa will take close-up images overnight to study the asteroid's surface features and other physical properties. "We will get a lot of data that will tell us a lot about the origins of the universe," said Dr. Kukula. Amateur astronomers will need a 6ins telescope to stand a chance of seeing the asteroid. It will pass through the constellations of Aquila and Pegasus, covering a Moon's width of sky every five minutes. Nasa has set up a Near Earth Object Programme known as Spaceguard to locate the estimated 1,000 asteroids and comets larger than 1km in diameter. A collision with such a large object would cause mass extinction of most life on Earth. Scientists are working on plans to destroy or divert large asteroids on a collision course with Earth. "Blowing it up would be an option of last resort", said Dr Kukula. "It could result in dozens of smaller impacts. "There are other ideas of using giant mirrors to focus sunlight on the asteroid, which would evaporate explosively, producing a jet that would force it away from us. "There is another plan to spray-paint an asteroid on one side, which would heat up in the sunlight. That could be enough over many decades to force it into a safer orbit." Für irdische Verhältnisse rast der Asteroid in sehr großer Entfernung an der Erde vorbei. Wenn man die Distanz allerdings durch die Brille eines Astronomen betrachtet, dann ist da gar nicht so viel Platz zwischen dem Gesteinsbrocken und uns. Kurz nach Mitternacht (09.11.2011) passiert der Brocken mit 50.000 Kilometern pro Stunde die Erde innerhalb der Mondbahn. Es ist die engste Begegnung mit einem so großen Asteroiden seit 1976. Ein Einschlag ist ausgeschlossen, wiedie US-Raumfahrtbehörde NASA betont. "Die Bahn des Asteroiden YU55 ist durch frühere optische und Radar-Beobachtungen sehr gut bekannt, und es besteht kein Risiko, dass dieses Objekt mit der Erde oder dem Mond kollidiert", unterstrich der NASA-Asteroidenexperte Don Yeomans in einer öffentlichen Fragestunde des US-Fachmagazins "Science" im Internet. Der enge Vorbeiflug gibt den Astronomen die Gelegenheit, den kosmischen Besucher genauer zu untersuchen. Während der Annäherung, die YU55 am Mittwoch (09.11.2011) um 0:28 Uhr (MEZ) bis auf 324.600 Kilometer an die Erde - also etwas näher als den Mond - heranbringt, soll die Oberfläche des Asteroiden auf bis zu zwei Meter genau kartiert werden. Früheren Beobachtungen zufolge ist YU55 nahezu rund und hat einen Durchmesser von etwa 400 Metern. Er besteht zum großen Teil aus Kohlenstoffverbindungen und ist schwärzer als Holzkohle, wie die NASA berichtet. Der vorbeifliegende Brocken wird daher nicht mit bloßem Auge zu sehen sein. Vermutlich begleite YU55 die Erde schon seit Jahrtausenden, erläuterte Yeomans. Auf seinem Orbit pendele der Asteroid zwischen den Bahnen von Venus und Mars, dem inneren und äußeren Nachbarplaneten der Erde. Wahrscheinlich werde er die Erde niemals treffen. Für die nächsten hundert Jahre hätten die Berechnungen einen Einschlag bereits definitiv ausgeschlossen.Asteroids (from Greek ἀστήρ 'star' and εἶδος 'like, in form') are a class of Small Solar System Bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not show the disk of a planet and was not observed to have the characteristics of an active comet, but as small objects in the outer Solar System were discovered, their volatile-based surfaces were found to more closely resemble comets, and so were often distinguished from traditional asteroids.There are millions of asteroids, many thought to be the often shattered remnants of planetesimals, bodies within the young Sun's solar nebula that never grew large enough to become planets. Yu55 2005