Giant asteroid to whizz past Earth on Oct 31

Washington, Oct 19: A potentially hazardous giant asteroid with an 'extremely eccentric' orbit is set to fly past the Earth on October 31 at over 125,529 kilometres per hour, according to NASA.

The asteroid, known as 2015 TB145, will pass our planet by only 499,000 kilometres - the closest pass since July 2006.

The asteroid was spotted on October 10, even though NASA is constantly scanning and tracking asteroids that could potentially fly past the Earth, the 'Mirror' reported.

"The asteroid is on an extremely eccentric and a high inclination orbit," NASA officials said. NASA scientists estimate that the asteroid could be between 280 to 620 metres in diameter.

The asteroid will not be visible through the naked eye but will be visible through a telescope.

"This is the closest approach by a known object this large until 1999 AN10 approaches within 1 lunar distance in August 2027," NASA said.

The 2015 TB145 asteroid is classified as a potentially hazardous object as it falls well within the 7,402,982 kilometres threshold of proximity to Earth, the report said.

However, despite the erratic orbit and close pass, NASA is confident the asteroid would not hit the Earth.

PTI