Large 'Spooky' Asteroid to Narrowly Miss Earth on Halloween

By Brian Lada, Meteorologist

October 20,2015; 10:04PM,EDT

 

This is an image of Ida, a large asteroid located in the Asteroid Belt. (Photo/NASA)

A newly discovered asteroid larger than a skyscraper will wiz past the Earth on Halloween, making a dangerously close approach to the planet.
The asteroid, officially named 2015 TB145, was just discovered on Oct. 10, 2015, and is expected to make its close approach to the Earth at the end of the month.
Some have already given the asteroid the nickname of "Spooky" due to the fact that its closest approach to Earth is going to occur on Halloween.
Fortunately, the asteroid will miss the Earth, but it will still make an uncomfortably close approach of 302,885 miles. To put this in perspective, the average distance from the Earth to the moon is 238,900 miles.

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Asteroid 2015 TB145 orbital diagram. Large asteroid will safely pass Earth on #Halloween. http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2015TB145&orb=1 … pic.twitter.com/lM27xh2JFC

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This animation shows the orbital paths of the Earth and 2015 TB145 as they orbit the sun and how close they will approach each other on Halloween. The exact size of "Spooky" is still unknown, but NASA has estimated the diameter of the asteroid to be between 525 feet and 2,000 feet.
This is much smaller than the asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct, but if it collided with the Earth, it would still produce a significant amount of destruction around the area where it made impact.
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"It's frightening to think an asteroid this size, approaching so close to Earth, was discovered only 21 days before its closest approach, which just happens to be on Halloween," said Paul Cox, the host of Slooh.
"If that doesn't give you the chills, nothing will," he added.
Slooh will be broadcasting the close approach of "Spooky" on Halloween with the live broadcast starting at 1 p.m. EDT.
Slooh is a community observatory that has connected telescopes to the Internet for public use, and has partnerships with organizations such as NASA.

While some people may think that the asteroid's approach of 302,885 miles is far away, it is a much closer approach to the Earth than a majority of asteroids that fly through our solar system.
According to NASA, this will be the biggest known asteroid to come near Earth until 2027. The last time that an asteroid this large passed by the Earth was in July 2006.
People will be able to observe "Spooky" on the night of Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, weather permitting, but will need a telescope to do so.
If you have a telescope and want to catch a glimpse of the Halloween asteroid, you should look in the direction of Orion's Shield, part of the Orion constellation.