An asteroid, designated 2015 TB145, will safely pass Earth on October 31 at 1:05 p.m. EDT (10:05 a.m. PDT, 17:05 UTC) by about 300,000 miles (482,800 km or 1.3 lunar distances).
An artist’s impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.
2015 TB145, informally known as the ‘Great Pumpkin,’ is a so-called near-Earth asteroid.
It was discovered about two weeks ago by astronomers using the University of Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS-1 system on Haleakala, Hawaii.
The asteroid is approximately 1,300 feet (396 m) across.
“The trajectory of 2015 TB145 is well understood. At the point of closest approach, it will be no closer than about 300,000 miles. Even though that is relatively close by celestial standards, it is expected to be fairly faint, so night-sky Earth observers would need at least a small telescope to view it,” said Dr Paul Chodas of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“The asteroid’s orbit is very oblong with a high inclination to below the plane of the Solar System,” said Dr Lance Benner, also of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“Such a unique orbit, along with its high encounter velocity – about 22 miles (35 km) per second – raises the question of whether it may be some type of comet.”
This is a graphic depicting the orbit of 2015 TB145. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
The gravitational influence of the asteroid is so small it will have no detectable effect on the Moon or anything on Earth, including our planet’s tides or tectonic plates.
NASA astronomers are tracking the flyby of 2015 TB145 with several observatories and the radar capabilities of the agency’s Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California.
“The close approach of 2015 TB145 at about 1.3 times the distance of the Moon’s orbit, coupled with its size, suggests it will be one of the best asteroids for radar imaging we will see for several years,” Dr Benner said.
“We plan to test a new capability to obtain radar images with 2-m resolution for the first time and hope to see unprecedented levels of detail.”
