View larger. | 2015 TB145 captured using a 12″ S/C telescope and a Santa Barbara ST402ME camera, by Efrain Morales of the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean (SAC). Efrain’s images, combined to create this animation, show a lapse of 20 minutes. Images taken on October 30, 2015 at 0602 UTC from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
The object given an asteroid name – 2015 TB145 – which swept within 1.3 lunar distances of Earth earlier today (October 31, 2015) – is now believed to be a comet, according to observations by scientists using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They say the object has likely shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun. The object passed at about 302,000 miles (486,000 km), on October 31 – the Halloween holiday here North America – at 1700 UTC (1 p.m. EDT, 10 a.m. PDT).
Radar images of the dead comet generated by the National Science Foundation’s 305-meter (1,000-foot) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico – found that it was bigger than estimates made before the close pass. The radar images from Arecibo show that the object is spherical in shape and approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) in diameter and completes a rotation about once every five hours.
Click here for more on the close pass of 2015 TB145
Boo! This image of the close-passing object on Halloween, 2015, clearly looks like a skull! It was generated using radar data collected by the National Science Foundation’s 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar image was taken on October 30, 2015. Image resolution is 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 TB145 passes by without a fright! @USRAedu @NSF_MPS @NASAJPL @UMET_PR @SRI_Intl http://pic.twitter.com/RvhyUE3loP
— Arecibo Observatory (@NAICobservatory) October 30, 2015
View larger. | A series of radar images via the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.
Here’s a closer look at one of the Arecibo radar images, above.
View larger. | René Torres – of the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean (SAC) – captured this photo captured from Caguas, Puerto Rico. The asteroid is seen moving across a span of just 100 seconds (just over one-and-a-half minutes).
Object 2015 TB145 via Slooh.com, which offers live shows with expert hosts. 2015 TB145 is the tiny line near the middle. Because it came so close to Earth, it appears to be moving in front of the fixed background stars.
View larger. | Another image provided by Slooh.com, in the days before closest approach.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1kiOnT8
View larger. | 2015 TB145 captured using a 12″ S/C telescope and a Santa Barbara ST402ME camera, by Efrain Morales of the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean (SAC). Efrain’s images, combined to create this animation, show a lapse of 20 minutes. Images taken on October 30, 2015 at 0602 UTC from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
The object given an asteroid name – 2015 TB145 – which swept within 1.3 lunar distances of Earth earlier today (October 31, 2015) – is now believed to be a comet, according to observations by scientists using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They say the object has likely shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun. The object passed at about 302,000 miles (486,000 km), on October 31 – the Halloween holiday here North America – at 1700 UTC (1 p.m. EDT, 10 a.m. PDT).
Radar images of the dead comet generated by the National Science Foundation’s 305-meter (1,000-foot) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico – found that it was bigger than estimates made before the close pass. The radar images from Arecibo show that the object is spherical in shape and approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) in diameter and completes a rotation about once every five hours.
Click here for more on the close pass of 2015 TB145
Boo! This image of the close-passing object on Halloween, 2015, clearly looks like a skull! It was generated using radar data collected by the National Science Foundation’s 1,000-foot (305-meter) Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The radar image was taken on October 30, 2015. Image resolution is 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel. Image credit: NAIC-Arecibo/NSF
Near-Earth Asteroid 2015 TB145 passes by without a fright! @USRAedu @NSF_MPS @NASAJPL @UMET_PR @SRI_Intl http://pic.twitter.com/RvhyUE3loP
— Arecibo Observatory (@NAICobservatory) October 30, 2015
View larger. | A series of radar images via the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico.
Here’s a closer look at one of the Arecibo radar images, above.
View larger. | René Torres – of the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean (SAC) – captured this photo captured from Caguas, Puerto Rico. The asteroid is seen moving across a span of just 100 seconds (just over one-and-a-half minutes).
Object 2015 TB145 via Slooh.com, which offers live shows with expert hosts. 2015 TB145 is the tiny line near the middle. Because it came so close to Earth, it appears to be moving in front of the fixed background stars.
View larger. | Another image provided by Slooh.com, in the days before closest approach.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1kiOnT8
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