Asteroid Hunters Stalk 2005 YU55 -- LIVE from Keck Observatory, Hawaii

Live broadcasting by Ustream

Nov. 8, 2011 -- At 6:38 p.m. ET on Tuesday, a 400-meter wide asteroid made its closest approach to Earth, passing below the orbit of the moon. Although asteroid 2005 YU55 came no closer than 201,000 miles from our atmosphere, this is the largest near-Earth object on record to come so close to our planet.

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As the asteroid glides away peacefully, continuing its orbit around the sun, Keck Observatory astronomers will continue to track the object, streaming the event live from the Keck II Remote Operations room in Kamuela, Hawaii. The feed -- shown above -- will go live at 7 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (9 p.m. PST, midnight EST).

"At the helm of the 10-meter Keck II telescope and using Keck's pioneering adaptive optics to view YU55 will be asteroid investigators William Merline and Peter Tamblyn of Southwest Research Institute, and Chris Neyman of Keck Observatory," Larry O'Hanlon, communications officer for Keck Observatory, said in Tuesday's press release.

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Although the bulk of imagery we are seeing of 2005 YU55 is from radar observations of the tumbling rock, it is hoped some optical and near-infrared observations of the asteroid will aid astronomers' understanding of the asteroid.

"The main scientific results we are seeking is to be able to get good optical/near-infrared images of the asteroid so that we can determine its size, shape, and direction of its spin pole," Merline told Discovery News via email.

"We will also be searching for satellites. While some of this can be done also by radar, our technique also provides some complementary information.

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By streaming the "asteroid hunt" live, what does the observatory hope to achieve?

"We might be a little crazy to do this live, but we want people to see how astronomy really works," O'Hanlon told Discovery News. "Anything can happen."

"Merline and his team could get great data that some of their colleagues might process right away into very cool images of the asteroid revealing a moon. Or it could snow on Mauna Kea and the dome never opens. Or something in between."

"By partnering with The Planetary Society and The Astronomical League, we expect that many folks tuning in will be pretty diehard science fans, and willing to stick it out and see."

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Further information can be found on the Keck Observatory's Facebook page, and the event will be closely followed via Twitter. When discussing the Keck event on Twitter, use the hashtag #KeckAsteroidWatch to interact live with the astronomers.

In addition to watching the live feed above, see the Keck Observatory Asteroid 2005 YU55 site.

And here's a reminder of what the Keck team will be looking for (click on image for more details):