The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS-1) located in Hawaii has revealed to scientists that a large asteroid will be flying past Earth on Halloween Day, and this was only fully understood 10 days ago.
The asteroid is known as the Asteroid 2015 TB145.
"This is the closest approach by a known object this large until 1999 AN10 approaches within 1 lunar distance in August 2027," said NASA in a report. "The flyby presents a truly outstanding scientific opportunity to study the physical properties of this object."
It is estimated that the asteroid will pass close to Earth at a distance of about 310,000 miles and it will be travelling at a speed of 78,000 miles per hour. Scientists revealed the Asteroid 2015 TB145 is about 1,542 feet in diameter, and it might be seen by telescopes that have 8-inch diameter or larger on the night of October 30 to the early dawn of October 31.
It must be noted that the event of only knowing about the asteroid's flyby three weeks before the event highlights the dangers our Earth face from errant asteroids in space; and while NASA has a plan to capture and redirect an asteroid that is on a direct collision with Earth, its Near-Earth Object Observations Program tasks astronomers and scientists all over the globe to watch out for asteroids that could collide with Earth.
Considering the fact that any asteroid collision is cataclysmic amidst research reports that asteroids slamming into Earth created craters and caused mass extinctions, scientists and NASA are always fascinated by the idea that an asteroid is on a straight-on collision with our Earth.