Space
10:04, 25-Dec-2017
Creepy skull-like asteroid to fly by Earth again in November 2018
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The "Halloween Asteroid" will be back next year. The giant space rock, which flew past Earth during Halloween 2015, gained public attention because it bears an incredible resemblance to a human skull.
Scientists think that the asteroid, named 2015 TB145, is likely a dead comet, with a diameter of about 600 meters, according to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The space rock looks like a skull face. /VCG Photo
The space rock looks like a skull face. /VCG Photo
The asteroid will fly by Earth in November 2018 at just under 1.3 lunar distances, which is about 486,000 km, and will not pose any threat to our planet.
After that, it will not come as close to Earth for many years to come, India Today reported, noting that the object will approach Earth at about 20 lunar distances in 2088.
The first radar images of the asteroid were generated by the US National Science Foundation's 305-meter Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. It's been found to have a rotation of approximately five hours and velocity of 35 km per second.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency