Up in the sky ! It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No - It's a...

[Steaphany]

Rock, specifically Asteroid 2005 YU55

Now, who can snap a photo as it zips by ?

[Donald]

I wasn't sure whether to just try for a wide angle with the Tokina 11-16mm so that we'd see plenty of the surrounding area and thereby ensure context!

[Steaphany]

I wasn't sure whether to just try for a wide angle with the Tokina 11-16mm so that we'd see plenty of the surrounding area and thereby ensure context!

Being just 400m across, it will still be over 300,000 km away at it's closest approach, 2005 YU55 will look like a star, hence the name asteroid - star like, that will be moving quite fast compared to the background stars. ( think of trying to photograph a race car just as it passes you by ) One author wrote:

2005 YU55 will glide along at one degree every 7 minutes

The Moon is just 0.5º so this will be moving through two Moon diameters every 7 minutes. Apart from 2005 YU55 being dark, estimated at being about 10th magnitude due to reflecting 1% of the sunlight, I doubt that anyone could get a clear image without motion blur.

I'd say the best image would be a streak against point stars so that it would be easy to distinguish, you'd get that with an exposure of a few seconds.

Here are a link with observing tips:

The Passage of Asteroid 2005 YU55 & How to See It.

For me, Looks like I'm SOL, the weather forecast over the next couple nights is cloudy with storms, it's may clear out by the 8th.

[Steaphany]

Well, NASA got to photograph 2005 YU55

[Donald]

Well, NASA got to photograph 2005 YU55

Okay ....... so maybe they've got a few more resources than me!