NASA Says ‘Halloween’ Asteroid to Pass Close to the Earth by the End of Month

Astronomers say a newly discovered asteroid will pass the Earth at more than 78,000 mph at 11:14 a.m. Eastern Time on October 31.

The asteroid was just discovered on Oct. 10, 2015, and is expected to make its closest approach to the Earth at the end of October.

The asteroid is officially named 2015 TB145, however some astronomers have already given it the nickname of "Spooky" due to the fact that its closest approach to Earth is going to occur on Halloween.

The asteroid will miss the Earth by 302,885 miles. To put this in perspective, the average distance from the Earth to the moon is 238,900 miles. Astronomically speaking, this is a very close call.

The exact size of "Spooky" is still unknown, but NASA has estimated the diameter of the asteroid to be between 525 feet and 2,000 feet.  According to NASA, this will be the biggest known asteroid to near Earth until 2027.

NASA says that if you have a telescope and want to see the Halloween asteroid, look in the direction of Orion's Shield, part of the Orion constellation.