This Tuesday (November 8) will bring more than just people out to the polls, it will also bring an asteroid bigger than an aircraft carrier pretty close to Earth. According to NASA's Near Earth Object Program, the huge space rock will pass within 202,000 miles of Earth. That means the asteroid will be closer to the Earth than the moon! The last time this asteroid came this close to Earth was nearly 200 years ago.
"We're extremely confident, 100-percent confident, that this is not a threat," said the manager of NASA's Near Earth Object Program, Don Yeomans.
The asteroid is named 2005 YU55 and is being monitored by ground antennas. The closest it will come to Earth will be 202,000 miles at 6:28 p.m. EDT Tuesday. If this asteroid were to hit the Earth it would carve out a crater four miles across and 1,700 feet deep! It would feel like a magnitude-7 earthquake and cause 70-foot-high tsunami waves.
The asteroid will only be visible if you are using a telescope according to Sky and Telescope.
*The Associated Press contributed to this story.
