What if 2005 yu55 hit

Melosh is a co-author of a NRC report "Defending Planet Earth" that explores the feasibility of detecting all Earth-crossing asteroids down to a diameter of meters, or about one-tenth of a mile, and of ways to mitigate their hazard. Materials provided by Purdue University. Original written by Elizabeth K. Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Science News. Story Source: Materials provided by Purdue University. ScienceDaily, 1 November Purdue University.

Large asteroid to pass by Earth Nov. Retrieved November 11, from www. This is a little over one tenth the If YU55 hit the ocean instead, a massive tsunami wave would result. If the asteroid landed in 1, feet of water, it would dig a pit three miles wide into the seafloor and push a huge, spreading wave crest more than feet high.

If instead the water were a mile deep, as in mid-ocean, the tsunami would be nearly 1, feet tall. The crater from a YU55 strike on the southern end of Central Park would consume the entire mid-section of Manhattan.

Debris would rain down over the entire western half of Long Island, and the air blast would be felt as far away as Philadelphia and Hartford. According to the calculator, asteroids this large have struck the Earth once every , years or so during the last 4 billion years. Try it—if you dare.

AWS Deloitte Genpact. The asteroid passing by Earth later today is going to come pretty close to Earth -- about , miles distant. But it will come even closer to the moon, missing the Earth's only natural satellite by , miles. What would happen if a large asteroid did strike the moon?

Could it knock it clear out of its orbit? It would take another nearly moon-sized object to actually move the moon, Clark Chapman, a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute told Popsci. If that were to happen, the moon wouldn't survive the impact.