2015 TB145
Discovery image of 2015 TB145 from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope, operated by the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii
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| Discovery | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Pan-STARRS (F51) |
| Discovery date | 10 October 2015 |
| Designations | |
| MPC designation | 2015 TB145 |
Apollo  NEO, PHA, Mercury-crosser asteroid, Venus-crosser asteroid, Mars-crosser asteroid |
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| Orbital characteristics | |
| Epoch 13 January 2016 (JD 2457400.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 2 | |
| Observation arc | 22 days |
| Aphelion | 3.9076 AU (584.57 Gm) (Q) |
| Perihelion | 0.29345 AU (43.899 Gm) (q) |
| 2.1005 AU (314.23 Gm) (a) | |
| Eccentricity | 0.86030 (e) |
| 3.04 yr (1112.0 d) | |
| 10.4818° (M) | |
| 0° 19m 25.5s / day (n) | |
| Inclination | 39.6863° (i) |
| 37.7318° (Ω) | |
| 121.731° (ω) | |
| Earth MOID | 0.00155156 AU (232,110 km) |
| Jupiter MOID | 2.41379 AU (361.098 Gm) |
| Jupiter Tisserand parameter | 2.964 |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Dimensions | 600 m (2,000 ft) |
| 5 hours, 2.938 h (0.1224 d) | |
| 0.06 | |
| 20.0 | |
2015 TB145 (also written 2015 TB145) is an Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 600 meters (2,000 feet) in diameter. It safely passed 1.27 lunar distances from Earth on 31 October 2015 at 17:01 UTC.
The asteroid was first observed on 10 October 2015 by Pan-STARRS at an apparent magnitude of 20 using a 1.8-meter (71 in) Ritchey–Chrétien telescope. The asteroid was not discovered sooner because it spends most of its time beyond the orbit of Mars, has a large orbital inclination, and spends most of its time well below the plane of the ecliptic. The asteroid last passed within 0.064 AU (9,600,000 km; 5,900,000 mi) of Earth on 29 October 1923 and will not pass that close again until 1 November 2088. The 2015 flyby was its closest approach to Earth in at least the next 500 years.
The media has nicknamed the asteroid the "Great Pumpkin" after the animated Halloween television special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, "Spooky", the “Halloween Asteroid”, and the “Skull Asteroid” due to its human skull-like appearance following radio frequency images taken at Arecibo Observatory.
On 31 October 2015 the asteroid passed 0.00191 AU (286,000 km; 178,000 mi) from the Moon and then passed 0.00325 AU (486,000 km; 302,000 mi) from Earth.
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