An asteroid that was discovered on October 10 is set to zoom past Earth on Halloween, marking the closest encounter our planet has had with one of the massive speeding rocks since 2006, according to NASA.
An asteroid is anticipated to come within 310,000 miles of Earth – about a third longer than the average distance to the moon – its nearest approach is estimated at 11:14 a.m. Eastern on October 31, according to NASA.
Called 2015 TB145, the asteroid was spotted by astronomers on October 10 using the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy. NASA estimates the space rock measures between 984 and 1,542 feet in diameter and is traveling “unusually fast,” according to the space agency, at about 78,000 miles per hour.
The Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System — is an innovative design for a wide-field imaging facility developed at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.
“The flyby presents a truly outstanding scientific opportunity to study the physical properties of this object,” NASA said in a statement. An asteroid 2009 FD first noticed by the La Sagra Sky Survey on in March 2009, but precovery observations were also found in data from Spacewatch data from February 24, 2009. The Minor Planet Center credits both search programs with the discovery.
2009 FD is not classified as a “Potentially Hazardous Asteroid” because its absolute magnitude is slightly fainter than the cutoff of 22. WISE and radar observations discussed above show that the diameter is probably at least 300 meters, so it’s large enough to be “potentially hazardous” even though it isn’t classified as such.
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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