14 DAY TRIAL // This coming October 31, just in time for Halloween, an asteroid dubbed 2015 TB145 will buzz by our planet. Rest assured though, it will not come trick-or-treating at our door. Rather, it will fly by Earth at a safe distance of about 1.3 lunar distances, i.e. approximately 499,000 kilometers (310,000 miles).
So, no, it does not pose a risk, even though this will be the closest an object from space will get to us until 2027, when another asteroid is expected to pay us a visit.
“This is the closest approach by a known object this large until 1999 AN10 approaches within 1 lunar distance in August 2027,” NASA scientists explain in a statement.
The space rock was only very recently discovered
This asteroid that will fly by Earth on Halloween was only identified a few days ago, on October 10, by researchers with Hawaii-based Pan-STARRS I survey.
Preliminary data indicates that its diameter is within a factor of two of 320 meters (1,050 feet), the scientists detail. What this means is the space rock appears to measure around 160 to 640 meters (roughly 525 to 2100 feet).
As for its behavior, specialists estimate that the asteroid is traveling through our Solar System at a speed of about 35 kilometers per second (22 miles per second).
The orb will be closely studied as it makes its way past our planet. Mind you, researchers hope to even snap some photos of it and get a better idea of what it looks like.
“We hope to obtain images with a range resolution as high as 2 meters [6.5 feet] / pixel. The flyby presents a truly outstanding scientific opportunity to study the physical properties of this object,” NASA scientists explain.
It was just days ago that a “devil asteroid” flew by us
This past October 10, yet another asteroid measuring about 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) across at its widest flew by our planet. This one, however, only came within 25 million kilometers (15 million miles) of Earth.
Nonetheless, it did not fail to grab headlines, all because of its name. You see, this other asteroid that visited us just days ago is known as 86666 (2000 FL10). What with 666 being the biblical number of the beast, many started calling the space rock the “devil asteroid.”