Aircraft carrier-sized asteroid to zip by Earth on Election Day

2:17 PM, Nov. 2, 2011
Written by Dan Vergano USA TODAY

A close encounter of the harmless kind comes next Tuesday when an aircraft-carrier-size asteroid races past Earth.

The asteroid, dubbed 2005 YU55, will come within 202,000 miles of Earth, closer than the moon before zipping farther out into space. Carbon-colored and dark, the round asteroid measures some 1,300 feet wide, and represents the closest visit by a space rock this size in more than three decades.

“This is not a potentially hazardous asteroid, just a good opportunity to study one,â€