A newly discovered asteroid is expected to pass by Earth on October 31st. It is the biggest asteroid to come close to us since July 2006.

Asteroid and Earth : Meteor impact
Photo Credit: sébastien decoret/ThinkStock
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Asteroid 2015 TB145 was just discovered less than two weeks ago, but it's already making an impact on the science community. According to an article on Science Alert,

Detected on October 10 by the Pan-STARRS I survey in Hawaii, which employs several astronomical cameras and telescopes from around the world to identify potentially threatening near-Earth objects, asteroid 2015 TB145 is estimated to be between 280 to 620 metres (918 to 2,034 ft) in diameter.

It will be the closest known asteroid until August 2027, when 1999 AN10 gets close to Earth (and will be slightly closer than this asteroid). But not to worry, 'close to Earth' is still hundreds of thousands of miles away. Asteroid 2015 TB145 is expected to be about 310,000 miles from Earth.

There's still a chance to see this asteroid pass by on Halloween (but unfortunately, not without a telescope of some kind). According to Science Alert,

...While it won’t be visible to the naked eye during its closest moments on Halloween, it should be observable to those lucky enough to have a good-quality amateur telescope.

So, if you have a decent telescope you can see this space-wonder as it gets close to the Earth. Just look toward the constellation Orion just after 5pm.

And for the idea of a scary asteroid ending our life on Earth? Well, reports from NASA tell us not to worry. Actually, out of all the discovered asteroids, there's less than a 1% chance of anything impacting Earth in the next 100 years.

 

 

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