By Lina Bryce
NASA scientists are tracking a ‘Spooky’ Halloween flyby of asteroid 2015 TB145. The asteroid will fly past Earth slightly farther than the moon’s orbit at 1:01 pm ET. According to NASA, scientists estimated the rock to be 1,300 feet wide.
This is the closest approach any object this size has flown towards Earth ever recorded, passing by 1.3 times the distance between Earth and the moon, or about 300,000 miles from Earth. So it is no surprise that scientists are treating the flyby as a target opportunity, allowing instruments on “spacecraft Earth” to scan it during the close pass. However, NASA reports that the gravitational influence of the asteroid dubbed ‘Spooky’ is so small it will have no detectable effect on the moon or anything here on Earth, including our planet’s tides or tectonic plates.
‘Spooky’ is harmless.
Unfortunately, this also means that the asteroid won’t be visible to the naked eye, as its closest approach on Halloween will be during daylight hours, but you may be able to spot it at night with a set of binoculars or a telescope!
If you would like to see where this asteroid will be in your night sky, you can use Stellarium’s website. Also, Slooh (an online observatory) will also be hosting a live broadcast online starting at 12:30 PM ET. The broadcast will show time-lapse images of the asteroid and you can even submit your questions to them about the asteroid on Twitter using #SpookyWeek.
Slooh host Paul Cox explains how this asteroid was given its nickname, ‘Spooky’:
“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,” Cox said in a statement. “If that doesn’t give you chills, nothing will.”
What is also bizarre is that its orbit is extremely oblong in shape and it goes well below the plane of the solar system, where all of the planets are located (See diagram published by Business Insider below).
There is no doubt that ‘Spooky’ will be a treat for scientists monitoring the sky this Halloween!
[WATCH ANIMATION OF ‘Spooky’]:
