As predicted, Asteroid YU55 whizzed past Earth yesterday, coming closer than the Moon does. Astronomers, both amateur and professional, welcomed the event and used the opportunity to collect data on the composition and structure of the body.
Due to cosmic geometry, YU55 never posed a danger to Earth, but the close shave is a reminder of what could happen. Efforts to protect Earth from asteroid and comet strikes are moving ahead, but they are gathering little pace. Hopefully, a really near miss-- let alone a real disaster-- won't be necessary to get detect-and-deflect programs on a faster track.
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