A massive space rock flew close by Earth on Halloween (Oct 31) looking like a dead comet with a skull face, Nasa said after gaining a closer look at the spooky space junk.
Astronomers initially thought the object was an asteroid when they spotted it in early October, and named it Asteroid 2015 TB145.
But using the US space agency’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, experts “have determined that the celestial object is more than likely a dead comet that has shed its volatiles after numerous passes around the sun,” Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement late on Friday.
Scientists have also spotted an eerie skull-like resemblance on the face of the rock, based on radar data from the National Science Foundation’s 305-metre Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
