An asteroid is going to scare a lot of folks in time for the Halloween as it will be orbiting around the Earth's atmosphere on Oct. 31 at 10:05 a.m. PDT or 1:05 p.m. EDT. The 2015 TB145 which was discovered and named by NASA will be passing 300,000 miles away from the moon's orbit.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration discovered the 2015 TB145 asteroid and will be the closest one to pass the Earth on the moon's orbit. Astronomer Davide Farnocchia says the asteroid will be the largest heavenly body to circle around the Earth until 2027. He also added that there is no possibility it would hit Earth in any case as it hovers around the Earth's atmosphere.
In 2011, asteroid 2005 YU55 was the closest one that hovered and passed the Earth as it only flown 0.85 lunar distances. Though there is not a need to be anxious about the world's end, the 2015 TB145 appears to be surprising. NASA astronomers did not notice the asteroid because they were closely watching another asteroid that is 15 million miles away passed Earth.
There are certain reasons why NASA did not detect the 2015 asteroid's presence. The astronomers said that its orbit is longer and coming from a different angle compared to others. It is also a bit uncommon in speed and size in comparison to other asteroids that passed by Earth in recent times.
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, the 2015 TB145 has a diameter of about 1,640 feet, a pretty huge size for an asteroid to be flying by the Earth's atmosphere. It also has speeds of about 22 miles per second, nearly four times the speed of an average asteroid when compared.
"The trajectory of 2015 TB145 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it will be no closer than about 300,000 miles, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dr Paul Chodas said. "Even though that is relatively close by celestial standards, it is expected to be fairly faint, so night-sky Earth observers would need at least a small telescope to view it,"
There is no need to worry. The space administration deep-rooted that it is too small of a concern, as they are worried about asteroids more than 3,200 feet wide, enough to erase the Earth from the solar system upon collision.
The asteroid's close-orbit visit is really a surprise and astronomers cannot wait for the chance to observe it up close, a rare opportunity for the spacemen to study the heavenly body's properties.
