14 DAY TRIAL // Experts operating the NASA Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission pointed the satellite towards the aircraft carrier-sized asteroid 2005 YU55 on Wednesday, November 9. This was when the space rock flew closest to Earth during its latest flyby.
Numerous professional and amateur telescopes were trained on the asteroid, but the reason why Swift data are so important is because they were collected in ultraviolet wavelengths. This gives experts access to a wide range of previously-unavailable data.
NASA has already published a short video clip depicting Swift's observations “We observed the asteroid with Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical and X-ray telescopes but, as expected, we saw it only in the UV,” University of Maryland expert and Swift team member Dennis Bodewits explains.
By using advanced observations techniques, the team was also able to study the space rock's rotation, by analyzing changes in its overall brightness.