NASA Releases Stunning Video Of Near-Miss Asteroid Asteroid 2005 YU55 (VIDEO)

Using radar data, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory created this six-frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55. The data was obtained Nov. 7, 2011 using NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar (located at the Deep Space Network facility in Goldstone, Ca.) At the time, the space rock was approximately 860,000 miles (1.38 million kilometers) away from Earth. At its closest approach on Nov. 8, 2011, YU55 will be about 200,000 miles from Earth. It poses no threat.

Resolution is 4 meters per pixel.

The movie is looped 5 times.

A massive asteroid paid Earth a very close visit Tuesday and astronomers were able to capture stunning imagery of the near-miss rock, including a mini-movie put together by NASA (below).

Asteroid 2005 YU55 zoomed by the planet inside the Moon’s orbit and reached its closest proximity at 6:28 p.m. ET when it came within 201,700 miles of Earth. It’s the largest object on record to pass this close to us with our foreknowledge. And just like that, 2005 YU55 was zooming off into deep space once again at approximately 29,000 miles per hour.

The next time an object this large is expected to pass this close to the planet is in 2028, reports Scientific American, so space watchers are preparing to take advantage of a rare opportunity to observe an asteroid at relatively up-close range with ground-based telescopes.