NASA has shared some spooky news, just in time for Halloween. A skull-shaped asteroid that they’ve nicknamed “Great Pumpkin” will fly past Earth just a week or two after the holiday.
Originally called the TB1456 asteroid, comet first appeared on October 31st of 2015, which is when it got its Halloween-themed name by scientists at NASA. It’s also been described as a “death comet,” since it’s strangely shaped like a skull. According to one scientist, the bright and dark features that make up the “face” could be due to surface irregularities.
This time, the spooky comet is expected to soar past earth on November 11th. Unfortunately, it will be a bit farther away, around an estimated 24 million miles (that’s a quarter of the distance between Earth and the sun). They're also saying it may no longer look like a "face," since bits and pieces of the asteroid have surely flown off over the past three years, changing its shape.
Here's some background on the "Pumpkin Asteroid" from 2015......