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Enormous Asteroid To Pass Earth On Halloween

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Steve Birr Vice Reporter
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An asteroid the size of a skyscraper that NASA noticed less than two weeks ago will pass by earth on Halloween.

The Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System in Hawaii discovered Asteroid 2015 TB145 on Oct. 10, Fox News reports, representing what will be the closest approach of an object to Earth until a different asteroid comes even closer in 2027.

The asteroid will be about 300,000 miles away when it passes, posing no risk to Earth and passing well outside the moon’s proximity, which averages a distance of about 239,000 miles from Earth.  According to Fox News, astronomers using telescopes with an 8-inch diameter or larger will be able to see the asteroid before sunrise on Halloween.

NASA works with fellow scientists through their Near-Earth Object Observations Program to identify asteroids that could represent a potential threat to Earth, however the very recent discovery of this asteroid illustrates the risk they pose and the limits of current technology, reports Fox News.

Rumors that made news in August and subsequently went viral claimed an asteroid was on a collision course to hit Earth at the end of September. Obviously these rumors proved false, and according to USA Today, Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said that none of the known objects they track, “has any credible chance of hitting our planet over the next century.”

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Tags : nasa
Steve Birr