Skull Face Asteroid Passes Earth Just After Halloween
The asteroid with a skull-like face will make its second trip near earth in three years after flying a quite tense, in a relative way, only 302,000 miles from our planet on October 31, 2015.
This year, the comet will be a much more comfortable 24 million miles away on November 11, Mother Nature Network reported.
The 2000-foot-wide rock gets the name 'death comet' not only because of its human skull face, but because it's believed to have been long-dead.
The comet, officially recognized as 2015 TB145, has other nicknames including 'Halloween asteroid' and 'The Great Pumpkin' by NASA.
The celestial occurrence is brighter than a typical comet which reflects only 3 to 5 percent of the light it receives from the sun.
The Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia captured the asteroid in the early morning hours of Halloween 2015 during a different period in its rotation.
The 2015 flyby was the closest the eerie comet has come to earth.
After the pass this year, it won't be back until November 1, 2088 and will be 4 million miles away, scientists say.