page_title: 2015 TB145
section_title: Discovery
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 TB145 / Discovery
caption_attribution_description: English: Discovery image of 2015 TB145 from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope, operated by the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. TYC 4726-1473-1 (mag 11) is in the lower right.
context_page_description: 2015 TB₁₄₅ is a sub-kilometer asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 650 meters in diameter. It safely passed 1.27 lunar distances from Earth on 31 October 2015 at 17:01 UTC, and passed by Earth again in November 2018.
context_section_description: 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 is usually 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 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 and closest approach coincidentally occurring on Halloween day.
caption: Discovery image of 2015 TB145 from the Pan-STARRS1 telescope, operated by the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii