Slooh.
That's the name of the community which
nicknamed the Halloween asteroid "Spooky".
Spooky, estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 feet wide,
is hurtling toward Earth at more than 78,000 mph.
Spooky's official designation is 2015
TB145. I like Spooky better. Simple things for simple minds.
He/she/it will come within 310,000 miles of Earth on Oct. 31.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Near Earth
Object Program keeps track of these sort of things, and if you have Java
enabled on your computer, you can have some fun on their website. Spooky,
the dot, will be seen passing the third planet from the sun.
According to NASA, Spooky was discovered only recently by the
Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii
Said Paul Cox of the community telescope service called Slooh,
"It’s frightening to think an asteroid this size, approaching so close to
Earth, was discovered only 21-days before its closest approach, which just
happens to be on Halloween. If that doesn’t give you the chills, nothing
will."
The
closest approach of Spooky or TB145 will happen at 1:12 p.m. EST on Saturday,
Halloween day.
For those of you wishing to track the Halloween
asteroid on Allhallows Eve, you can check in with the Slooh community. Or
you can go out and Trick or Treat.
Slooh community: http://goo.gl/WZguvn
Spookily
yours,
Gerrie
Ferris Finger
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