A dead comet in the shape of a skull is flying on planet earth after Halloween

An asteroid that looks like a skull should pass in front of Earth just after Halloween this year.

The space rock, officially known as 2015 TB145, also passed our planet in 2015. It was discovered on October 10, 2015 by the pan-observation and rapid reaction observation system (Pan-STARRS-1) at Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii. He is now back for another visit, scheduled for astronomers in early November.

NASA nicknamed the asteroid The Great Pumpkin because it had happened to Halloween three years ago.

The asteroid does not always go to Halloween. The extraterrestrial rock has an orbital period of 1112 days, a little over three years. This means that every time he visits Earth, it will happen a little later than last time.

The asteroid only reflects 5 to 6% of the sunlight, which means that it is very dark. The astrophysicist Pablo Santos-Sanz, of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain, said the object is only slightly more reflective than the coal from wood.

Scientists also believe that the object is a dead comet. according to SpaceThe asteroid can be an extinct comet that has lost its water and other volatiles after several revolutions around the sun.

Astronomers expect that when flying over 2018, the asteroid will be about 105 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

The proximity of the asteroid to our planet when it passed Earth on October 31, 2015 was about 300,000 miles, or 1.3 lunar distances. This is the closest approach to the asteroid on our planet for the next 500 years.

"According to the NEO catalog preserved by the Minor Planet Center, this is the closest approach currently known by such a large object to the 1999 asteroid AN10, at about 2 600 feet (800 meters), about 1 lunar distance (238,000 miles from Earth) in August 2027, "said NASA.

Although the asteroid is farther away on its next visit, astronomers are still waiting for the flyby as this will allow them to study extraterrestrial objects lying relatively close to the Earth. The study of space rocks, such as the dead comet in the shape of a skull, also gives scientists a better insight into the evolution of the solar system.

"Although this approach is not so favorable, we will be able to get new data that could help improve our knowledge of this mass and other similar masses close to our planet," Santos-Sanz said in a statement. release published by Information. and science news service.