Christmas 'Hippo' Asteroid Buzzing Earth
Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 7:28 pm
https://www.space.com/42838-hippo-asteroid-2003-sd220-earth-flyby.html wrote:
Christmas 'Hippo' Asteroid Is Buzzing Earth,Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Its Closest Flyby in 400 Years
By Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor | December 22, 2018
<<If only a hippopotamus will do this Christmas, Santa has the space rock for you. A small asteroid will fly safely by Earth Saturday (Dec. 22) and according to the folks at NASA, it looks just like the mighty hippo in new radar images. The asteroid, called 2003 SD220, is also making its closest approach to Earth in more than 400 years and won't be any closer until 2070, NASA officials said. It last flew by Earth on Christmas Eve of 2015.
"Do you want a hippopotamus for Christmas?" officials with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wrote on Twitter Friday (Dec. 21). "You're in luck. Hippo-shaped #asteroid 2003 SD220 will fly safely past Earth on Saturday, Dec. 22, at a distance of ~1.8 million miles (~2.9 million km).">>
