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Halloween: 1300 feet-wide asteroid to fly close to Earth

October 25, 2015 11:48 AM |

Asteroid to pass by Earth on HalloweenIf Halloween never managed to scare you, things are likely to change this year. A 1300 feet wide asteroid will do a little ‘fly-by’ not so far from Earth on Halloween 2015. The asteroid is referred to as the TB145 and was discovered on October 10.

This asteroid, which by the way is capable of causing ‘continental-scale’ damage and devastation, will be the closest object of its size in the next 20 years.

The asteroid has been nicknamed ‘The Great Pumpkin’ and is also being called ‘Spooky’. The last time the TB145 passed by Earth was in 1975. During that time, the Earth was at a completely different place in its orbit and NASA’s sky surveys were less detailed.

Sky-watchers shouldn’t celebrate too early as the asteroid is expected to be fairly faint in its trail. A small telescope is a pre-requisite and timing varies from region to region.

Interestingly though, had the asteroid been on a collision course with our planet, a three weeks’ notice would have been way too late to do anything about it. Thus we sure are lucky that the asteroid is going to be a normal celestial sighting and not some judgement day trigger.

The future will be different though. At least, that’s what the best minds in the field are working towards. Scientists have shown confidence in developing deflection and/or destruction plans for asteroids in order to shield the Earth from such catastrophic celestial invasions.

(Featured Image Credit: theguardian.com)






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