This is a recent discovery by NASA, spotted for the first time October 10th. Its making a bee line for our neck of the woods and should pass by, from a safe distance, on Halloween afternoon. It should stay as far away as the moon, it may seem far but by Space Standards, its a close shave. The asteroid will fly past Earth on Oct. 31 at 1:05 p.m.
This Halloween Asteroid is about 1,300 feet wide, and it will supply NASA with plenty of data for research. It will be close enough for all sorts of earthbound instruments to track.
NASA says:
According to the catalog of near-Earth objects (NEOs) kept by the Minor Planet Center, this is the closest currently known approach by an object this large. By the way, the next close Asteroid fly-by will be "Asteroid 1999 AN10". Its about 2,600 feet in size, and will pass about the same distance from earth as the moon is from us (238,000 miles) in August 2027.
The "Halloween Asteroid" should pass just over 300,000 miles away. Even though its close it will not be easy to see. You will need at the very least a small but powerful telescope.
Any Scary Impacts from this Asteroid?
NASA says: The gravitational influence of the asteroid is so small it will have no detectable effect on the moon or anything here on Earth, including our planet's tides or tectonic plates.
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