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Asteroid swings by Earth STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: 09 November 2011 
NASA released a six-frame video clip of asteroid 2005 YU55 on Tuesday, but the best imagery is still yet to come. The 1,300-foot-wide asteroid passed approximately 201,700 miles from Earth at 2328 GMT (6:28 p.m. EST) Tuesday, but the video shows imagery collected Monday when the asteroid was about 860,000 miles away. A 230-foot dish antenna at NASA's Goldstone tracking site in California created the images using radar. They are the highest-resolution images every generated by radar of a near-Earth object, according to NASA. Credit: NASA. "The movie shows the small subset of images obtained at Goldstone on Nov. 7 that have finished processing," said Lance Benner, a radar astronomer from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory leading the 2005 YU55 observations. "By animating a sequence of radar images, we can see more surface detail than is visible otherwise." The video does not include frames taken as the asteroid was closest to Earth. "The animation reveals a number of puzzling structures on the surface that we don't yet understand," Benner said. "To date, we've seen less than one half of the surface, so we expect more surprises." Other observatories, including the 1,000-foot Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, were tracking the asteroid's flyby of Earth. Discovered in 2005, the asteroid is in an orbit that regularly passes near Earth and the moon. Tuesday's flyby was inside the orbit of the moon and was the closest approach of an asteroid to Earth since 1976. The next known flyby this close will be in 2028. |
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Infinity Rising This special publication features the photography of British astro-imager Nik Szymanek and covers a range of photographic methods from basic to advanced. Beautiful pictures of the night sky can be obtained with a simple camera and tripod before tackling more difficult projects, such as guided astrophotography through the telescope and CCD imaging. U.K. STOREE.U. STOREU.S. & WORLDWIDE STOREHubble Reborn
The Planets
3D Universe
 This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.U.K. STOREE.U. STOREU.S. & WORLDWIDE STORE |
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Hubble Reborn takes the reader on a journey through the Universe with spectacular full-colour pictures of galaxies, nebulae, planets and stars as seen through Hubble's eyes, along the way telling the dramatic story of the space telescope, including interviews with key scientists and astronauts. 
From tiny Mercury to distant Neptune and Pluto, The Planets profiles each of the Solar System's members in depth, featuring the latest imagery from space missions. The tallest mountains, the deepest canyons, the strongest winds, raging atmospheric storms, terrain studded with craters and vast worlds of ice are just some of the sights you'll see on this 100-page tour of the planets. 
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