Big asteroid will safely pass Earth on Halloween
EarthSky
Big asteroid will safely pass Earth on Halloween
by Eddie Irizarry in Blogs » Human World, Science Wire, Space
NASA says 2015 TB145 is the biggest known asteroid to sweep near Earth until 2027. It’ll pass at 1.3 times the moon’s distance and be visible through telescopes!
A newly found asteroid of notable size will safely pass by Earth on October 31, 2015 and should be visible moving in front of the stars, with the help of a telescope, the night before. According to NASA, asteroid 2015 TB145 will be the biggest known asteroid to come near Earth until 2027. It was discovered just over a week ago, on October 10, from the Pan-STARRS I telescope in Hawaii. The Halloween asteroid’s closest approach will occur on 11:14 a.m. ET (15:14 UTC) on October 31, 2015.
However, observers trying to glimpse the space rock using telescopes will have to look late on the night of October 30, and before dawn on October 31.
The huge asteroid will pass Earth at 310,000 miles (498,896 km) or 1.3 times the Earth-moon distance, which is a totally safe pass. It’ll come closer to the moon than to Earth, only 180,000 miles (280,000 km) from the moon.
The space rock’s brightness will be at an approximate magnitude of 10, which is fainter than the eye alone can see. But the asteroid should be easy to spot “slowly” moving across the field of stars if you know when and where to look. And, by the way, although the asteroid’s distance will make this moving object appear to move slowly, this speeding space rock is traveling at 78,000 miles (126,000 km) per hour!
On the night of October 30-31, the asteroid will be traveling across the well-known constellation of Orion
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