Asteroid 2015 TB145 Passed Earth About 300,000 Miles Away in 2015
The asteroid made its closest approach on October 31, 2015, at roughly 1.3 times the average Earth–Moon distance.
FlyMarshall Newsroom1 min read
Photo: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
Asteroid 2015 TB145 passed Earth on October 31, 2015, at a distance of about 300,000 miles. Astronomers using Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS observatory discovered the asteroid around three weeks before the flyby.
Key details
- Arecibo Observatory obtained the asteroid’s first radar images on October 30, 2015.
- The radar images showed an object with a skull-like appearance.
- NASA referred to 2015 TB145 as the “Great Pumpkin”; the asteroid also became known as the “Halloween Asteroid.”
- The asteroid passed Earth again in 2018 at a distance of about 24 million miles.
2015 TB145 passed about 300,000 miles from Earth on October 31, 2015.
Why it matters
The 2015 flyby gave astronomers an opportunity to observe the asteroid with radar and document its appearance. Its passage also drew attention to how close a large space object can come to Earth while remaining well beyond the Moon’s average distance.
What happens next
The Halloween flyby remains a memorable example of radar astronomy capturing a near-Earth object in detail. Which asteroid observation would you most like to see next?
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