by Alyssa Newcomb
How's this for eerie timing?
An asteroid that was only just
discovered on Oct. 10 is set to whiz past Earth on Halloween, marking
the closest encounter our planet has had with one of the massive
speeding rocks since 2006, according to NASA.
Coming within 1.3 lunar distances
-- that's 310,000 miles -- the asteroid, called 2015 TB145, will brush
past Earth but presents no threat to humans, NASA scientists said, noting the asteroid has an estimated diameter of between 525 feet and 2,000 feet.
Described as having an "extremely
eccentric" orbit and appearing "cometary in nature," NASA said this
asteroid is incredibly fast and predicts it will zoom past Earth at
78,000 miles per hour.
"The flyby presents a truly
outstanding scientific opportunity to study the physical properties of
this object," NASA officials wrote. It's worth noting this asteroid was
only discovered days ago, but its next close encounter with Earth is
expected to happen in a dozen years from now, in August 2027.
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