A near Earth object called WT1190F will enter Earth on November 13. (Photo : NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA just announced that a giant asteroid will come hurtling in the direction of Earth at extremely high velocity on Halloween.
However, the space agency also reassured that there is no need to panic as the asteroid will miss the planet by 310,000 miles, a fairly large amount of distance where it will actually zip by closer to the moon at a distance of only 180,000 miles.
NASA detected this asteroid known as 2015 TB145 on October 10 by the Pan-Starrs I telescope that is located in Hawaii. The asteroid's size is estimated to be in roughly 1,542 feet in diameter as scientists estimate the asteroid to measure between 689 feet to 2,000 feet in diameter, which is also described to possess an "extremely eccentric" shape and appears to look like a comet.
Scientists believe that the reason why it was discovered only last week is due to its bizarre orbit.
Fortunately, this flying space rock is at a safe distance away as 2015 TB145 will do a flyby of Earth with the highest speeds of 78,000 miles per hour. Scientists also believe that considering its relatively large size, its travelling speeds and late detection by NASA, the asteroid might have caused devastating damage to Earth if it was not that far away.
On October 31, the asteroid will be at its closest approach to Earth at 0.0032 au or 1.3 lunar distance, some 310,000 miles away at 11:14 A.M. EDT.
Humans need not to worry as the asteroid will safely pass by without any collisions to the planet, and for those who are interested to observe this asteroid, anyone can use a telescope of decent size to magnify the flying space rock about eight inches in diameter or even larger.
The asteroid will also emit a magnitude of a 19.9 brightness which means that it will not be visible the naked eye as it will scan across the Orion constellation on October 30 into Halloween.
