Halloween asteroid shaped like 'skull' will zip by Earth
An unusual asteroid is expected to hurdle past Earth on Halloween — but there's no need to be spooked.
The asteroid, dubbed 2015 TB145, will not come close to endangering our planet. It is expected to maintain a distance of about 300,000 miles, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scientists said it is traveling at a speed of more than 78,000 miles per hour, and radar images indicated it was approximately 2,000 feet in diameter.
The asteroid's flyby is visible by telescope, and could be best seen late at night Friday and before dawn on Saturday.
According to NASA, the asteroid is most likely a dormant comet that has shed its volatile materials after numerous passes around the sun. Fittingly, NASA said, the asteroid bears an "eerie resemblance to a skull."
In August, rumors swirled that an asteroid was on course to hit the Earth at the end of September. However, Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in August that there was no need to worry about any asteroid or celestial object hitting our planet.