A dead comet the size of a football stadium flies by Earth today, on Halloween. Oh, and it looks like a skull.
Scientists observing asteroid 2015 TB145, that will zip past Earth on Oct. 31, 2015, have determined that the
celestial object is more than likely a dead comet that has shed its
volatiles after numerous passes around the sun.The space rock, discovered on Oct. 10, 2015, by the
University of Hawaii’s Panoramic Survey Telescope and
Rapid Response System, will safely fly
by our planet at 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the moon, or about 302,000 miles
(486,000 kilometers).The first radar images of the dead comet were generated by the
National Science Foundation’s Arecibo Observatory
in Puerto Rico. The images indicate the object is
spherical in shape and approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) in diameter. And fittingly to Halloween, resembles a skull.It’s also a great reminder of the Neil deGrasse Tyson’s quote: “Asteroids are nature’s way of asking: How’s that space program coming along?”
Happy Halloween!
Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
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