Asteroid 2005 YU55's Close Approach

An asteroid 1,300 feet in diameter will pass by Earth at roughly 200,000 miles at closest approach on November 8. That's closer than the Moon gets. Astronomers, both professional and amateur, are organizing to take full advantage of the rare opportunity, planning to focus the major telescopes on Earth to get as much information about the body as possible.

Asteroid 2005 YU55 is certainly big enough to do major damage were it to strike Earth, and that is a possibility in the far future. There is no danger connected to this flyby, but astronomers can use it to gather data that will be useful in dealing with the asteroid when it is a real threat.