YU 55 ...missed opportunity

reply to post by Wookiep


Last I read, today's close pass is at 15:28 PST.

Originally posted by Wookiep
Does anyone know what time this thing is supposed to pass by us (or smash into us)? Inquiring minds want to know, thanks!

It will make its closest approach to Earth at 3:28 p.m. PST (6:28 p.m. EST/1128 UTC).

www.nasa.gov...

slooh spacecamera

in 30 minutes this site will be showing YU55 fly by of earth!

My first time viewing from this site. so far it looks interesting!

check it out!

I think the close pass to earth is 6:28 pm EST.
Might be able to see it here in 30 min.
events.slooh.com...

If flies by around 11:28 UTC, I love all the contradicting answers when the information is posted on NASA's site.

Awesome, thanks for the prompt responses!

Originally posted by BlackProjects
I think the close pass to earth is 6:28 pm EST.
Might be able to see it here in 30 min.
events.slooh.com...

It can't be seen by the naked eye, you would need a telescope.....

First of all, it's bad news for all but the most committed of stargazers. It will not be visible to the naked eye - even at its closest point to earth it will be about 100 times dimmer than humans can observe naturally.
If you want to catch a glimpse of the asteroid as it passes by, you'll need a telescope with an aperture of at least six inches.

I dont know why people say there are far more important things the government or nasa could be doing with there money rather than landing a ship/camera of some sort on top of an asteroid...


Becacuse we have a chance of stopping some secnarios that could end the world but not an asteroid htting earth we probably have no idea of how to stop that from hapening...


I mean they should be taking advantage of this especially seeing as apohosis is more than likely expected to pass earth on 2029 and be pulled in by our gravitational pull only to come back around and strike earth wiping us all out....

reply to post by mileslong54


Eh? Wot? No problem.

Get Brucie on it and slingshot round the Moon!

reply to post by PuterMan


Yea but he might have to stay behind to trigger the bomb and we would never get to see the next Die Hard Movie.

reply to post by mileslong54

Helios-A and Helios-B (also known as Helios 1 and Helios 2), were a pair of probes launched into heliocentric orbit for the purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and NASA, the probes were launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 10, 1974, and Jan. 15, 1976, respectively. The probes are notable for having set a maximum speed record among spacecraft at 252,792 km/h (157,078 mi/h or 43.63 mi/s or 70.22 km/s or 0.000234c)

en.wikipedia.org...

New Horizons was launched on January 19, 2006, directly into an Earth-and-solar-escape trajectory with an Earth-relative velocity of about 16.26 km/s (58,536 km/h; 36,373 mph) after its last engine shut down. Thus, the spacecraft left Earth at the greatest ever launch speed for a man-made object.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Cool, so we can go fast in space, is there any record of man putting anything on an asteroid flying by?

I guess not,

According to a news editor working for GPS tracking system distributor Tracking System Direct, Obama has already began the process to increase funding for NASA, but the money comes with some contingencies. What Obama wants in return for the federal dollars is NASA to send a space shuttle and astronaut to an asteroid. The President wants NASA not only to put a man on a traveling asteroid, but he also wants to enhance the program to the point where long space travels can become the norm.

Obama wants to do it, Obama makes it legit, opportunity wasted.

reply to post by mileslong54


The Japanese have managed it.

Other spacecraft, notably Galileo and NEAR Shoemaker both sent by NASA, have visited asteroids before, but the Hayabusa mission was the first time that an attempt was made to return an asteroid sample to Earth for analysis.[1]
In addition, Hayabusa was the first spacecraft designed to deliberately land on an asteroid and then take off again (NEAR Shoemaker made a controlled descent to the surface of 433 Eros in 2000, but it was not designed as a lander and was eventually deactivated after it arrived). Technically, Hayabusa was not designed to "land"; it simply touches the surface with its sample capturing device and then moves away. However, it was the first craft designed from the outset to make contact with the surface of an asteroid. Junichiro Kawaguchi of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science was appointed to the leader of the mission.[2]
Despite its designer's intention of a momentary contact, Hayabusa did land and sit on the asteroid surface for about 30 minutes

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Very cool, did not know that. Still seems expensive and not worth it but thanks for sharing.

Nobody (really) has a spacecraft that could catch up to the asteroid, not a manned one anyway, and why would you try to catch it going past earth, where it is approaching it's faster speed? Logic would dictate it would be easier to catch it out by Mars's orbit, but that is still about 54,000 mph. Anything we shot to it would need a couple of planetary slingshots to reach even that speed, and needed to be launched maybe two years ago, which begs the question, why this asteroid, this approach, just because it's whizzing by earth kind of close at about 67,000 mph? You'd have to review a launch window and head to Venus for a nice slingshot if Venus is in the vicinity. That would be the shortest route, and the best local boost as Venus is clipping along at around 78,000 mph.

reply to post by Chadwickus


JUNO is going to smash the manmade spacecraft speed record as it will exceed 200,000 mph as it approaches Jupiter. From out by Mars's orbit NASA is going to fire the engines on JUNO for a close flyby back to earth as it skims within 300 miles of earth's surface in 2013 to send it to the orbit of Jupiter trailing from behind and gaining speed to overtake the orbital speed of Jupiter by it's massive gravitational pull then fire it's engines again to slow and achieve orbit.

I wonder how the spectrographic signature of a carbonaceous chondrite would differ from that of a 400m-diameter spacecraft piloted by carbon-based lifeforms.

reply to post by Astyanax

.....a 400m-diameter spacecraft piloted by carbon-based lifeforms.

Hmmmmm.......very closely describes a few certain "Star Ships" of note....in science fiction.

Constitution class......circa ~2265......the USS Enterprise - NCC 1701 (and her 11 sister ships, including the USS Constitution of course. The class named after her).

947 feet in length, overall in that era. so, just under 300 meters. But, the refit, circa ~2272, brought the length up to approximately 305 meters.

The later Excelsior-class USS Enterprise NCC 1701B (circa ~2295) had an over-all length of 469 meters.


So, just for some comparisons, to judge relative sizes.....and all......

There is no benefit in trying to land on it while it's close to the Earth as opposed to the other side of the sun.
The energy (size of rocket) would be exactly the same.