Incoming asteriod 2005 YU55

There is an asteroid that has been upgraded on the Torino Scale from a 0 to a 1. This is unusual, because usually as more observations are made as an object draws closer, impact likelihood is adjusted downward. It is the case that a "1" also indicates that after it is watched a little longer, it will become a "0".

The asteroid's size has been re-estimated, 140m diameter up from 130m, which is typical when an object gets closer, you can see it better. Here is an orbit diagram, Java applet.

If it were to be on a collision course, an object this size has a high probability of surviving entry mostly intact rather than exploding in the atmosphere, and of course it depends a lot on what it is made of and how dense.

A 0 Torino Scale rating means "will never hit us" where a 1 TS reading means "very very unlikely it will hit us and as we look at it more it will most likely turn out it will never hit us". So, it should be downgraded back to 0 in the next week or so-- unless it isn't, which would be very interesting.