What To Expect
Asteroid 2015 TB145 is expected to reach its closest approach to Earth at about 1:18 pm Eastern. It'll blast past us at a speed of about 78,300 miles an hour, and should be bright enough to see with a decent telescope and a star chart.
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| Artist's view of an asteroid | Lucas/Flickr CC By 2.0 |
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| Pan-STARRS is one of few telescopes whose main goal is to search for comets and asteroids | Forest Starr and Kim Starr/Flickr CC By 2.0 |
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| Rendering of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope | LSST |
The asteroid's proximity will give scientists an excellent chance to study it. Scientists hope to image it with a resolution as high as 6.5 feet (2 meters) per pixel, and radar measurements will help shed light on the asteroid's precise size and composition. So far all we really know is that it's somewhere around 1,050 to 2,100 feet (320 to 640 meters) in diameter.
The 'asteroid' could be a dead comet.
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| Vesta gave us a good look at what an asteroid looks like. | NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA |
- Asteroid 2015 TB145 is believed to be around 1.5 miles (2.5 km) wide
- An asteroid just quarter-of-a-mile wide could cause global devastation
- 2015 TB145 will pass 1.3 times the distance from the Earth to the moon
- Despite its size, Nasa has said the rock 'poses no threat' of impact
The space rock, named 2015 TB145, will safely fly past our planet at 78,000mph (125,500km/h) at 310,000 miles (499,000km) away.
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| While there's no danger to Earth, Nasa has described the asteroid as 'hazardous' as it comes 4,600,000 mile (7,403,00km) threshold of proximity to our planet. |
That's around 1.3 times the distance between the Earth and the moon, allowing anyone with a telescope to see the event.
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| The asteroid, named 2015 TB145, will make its closest approach to Earth on 11:14 a.m. ET (3:14 pm GMT) on October 31, and can be seen by anyone using a telescope. |
The 'high velocity' Halloween asteroid's closest approach will take place on 11:14 a.m. ET (3:14 pm GMT) on October 31.
It will be the closest approach to Earth since July 2006 and scientists believe we probably won't see another large asteroid come this close to the planet until 2027.
While there's no danger to Earth, Nasa has described the asteroid as 'hazardous' as it comes 4,600,000 mile (7,403,00km) threshold of proximity to our planet.
The asteroid was spotted by Nasa a fortnight ago, which is relatively short notice for the space agency.
FRIENDS!!! WATCH with TELESCOPE --Nasa predicts 'near miss'
with scary asteroid on Halloween (but don't panic, it will still be 310,000
miles away) --The asteroid, named 2015 TB145, will make its closest approach to
Earth on 11:14 a.m. ET (3:14 pm GMT) on October 31
'This is the closest approach by a known object this large until 1999 AN10 approaches within 1 lunar distance in August 2027'
Because of its erratic orbit, Nasa isn't sure where it will go, but the space agency says it's confident it will not hit Earth.
It comes just weeks after doomsdayers claimed the end of the world was nigh after Nasa revealed a giant asteroid is heading towards the planet.
Called Asteroid 86666 (2000 FL10), the 1.5-mile wide (2.5km) space rock made its closest pass on 10 October.
Then there were assertions surrounding the end of the Mayan calendar on 21 December 2012, insisting the world would end with a large asteroid impact.
Earlier this year, asteroids 2004 BL86 and 2014 YB35 were also said to be on dangerous near-Earth trajectories, but their flybys in January and March went without incident.
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| Asteroid 86666 (2000 FL10) made its closest pass on 10 October (illustrated). An asteroid of its size has the potential to cause global devastation if it was to hit Earth but Nasa said at the time it posed no threat to Earth |
FRIENDS!!! WATCH with TELESCOPE --The asteroid, named 2015 TB145, will make its closest approach to Earth on 11:14 a.m. ET (3:14 pm GMT) on October 31
For more information
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3279668
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