Zombie Comet News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Brian? >> reporter: hi, uma. 78,000 miles per hour. that is about 2,000 feet in diameter, about three times the size of the colosseum in rome. that is pretty big for near earth objects. initially thought to be an asteroid. it is more than likely a dead comet, zombie comet, adding to the erie feel fittingly on halloween looks like a human skull face. a normal comet is made of ice and dust particles. this leaves only the charcoal dark rough. it flew by earth 302,000 miles away or 1.3 times the distance from the earth to the moon. this is the closest encounter we have had with a large space objec...

78,000 miles per hour. it's about 2,000 feet in diameter. that's three times the size of the coliseum in rome. but like you said, luckily it did not hit us. that's relatively big for near-earth objects. originally thought to be an asteroid, nasa now says it's more than likely a dead comet. that's right. a zombie comet. adding to the eerie feel, the dead comet fittingly on halloween looks like a human skull face. look at that. a normal comet is made up of ice a comic flew by earth about 302,000 mimes away.

By earth about th45 minutes ago. they say it's the closest we've come to one in nearly a decade. brian, why did it take so long for scientists to spot this coming? >> well, it's a good question. quite frankly, kind of scary. scientists say the reality is it's a big sky out there. we can't expect to see or catch everything. the asteroid is a friendly reminder of how vulnerable we are. about 1:00 p.m. eastern time the asteroid zipped by earth at about 78,000 miles per hour. it's about 2,000 feet in diameter. imagine 5 1/2 football fields. that's relatively big for near earth objects. initially t...

Keeping it a mystery. they call it the zombie comet. no, that's not the title of the latest j.j. abrams project. scientists think this hunk of icy rock and gas comet ison must have survived a brush with death. yesterday it slipped behind the sun but didn't re-emerge signaling gravity might have destroyed it. then researchers noticed this. see that circle? that might be a chunk of ison. if so it looks to have actually brightened. star gazers are keeping their eyes on the sky. coming up next on "the lead," you don't have to be a lip reader to make out the words "hit me" coming from jason kid...