An asteroid eerily shaped like a skull passed within approximately 500,000 kilometres of Earth yesterday, the US space agency Nasa said.

The object passed closest to the Earth at 1701 GMT, at a distance farther away than the moon. It never posed a danger to Earth.

The large space rock, with a diameter of 600 metres, was likely a so-called dead comet, which lost its glowing tail after countless orbits around the Sun, Nasa said.

Nasa scientists had spoken about a “great pumpkin” that would fly by the Earth on Halloween. But, as the heavenly body drew closer to the Earth, scientists changed their description because satellite photos showed it bore a striking resemblance to a human skull.

- dpa