The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently released a holiday gift for space scientists and enthusiasts: radar images of the asteroid that made its closest approach to Earth on Christmas Eve.
Scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California were able to generate the highest-resolution images to date of Asteroid 2003 SD220, which made its historic flyby on Dec. 24.
The radar images were taken as the asteroid approached Earth from a distance of 7.3 million miles (12 million kilometres) from between Dec. 17 to Dec. 22. The space object safely flew past Earth on Christmas Eve at a distance of 6.8 million miles.
Lance Benner, leader of the NASA's asteroid radar research programme, noted the asteroid's elongated shape.
"The radar images data suggest that asteroid 2003 SD220 is highly elongated and at least 3,600 feet [1,100 meters] in length," Benner said in a statement posted on the NASA website.
He said radar images of Asteroid 2003 SD220 can be used by the NASA for further research, particularly when the space object will fly past Earth at an even closer distance of 1.8 million miles (2.8 million kilometres) three years from now.
"The data acquired during this pass of the asteroid will help us plan for radar imaging during its upcoming closer approach in 2018," Benner explained.
Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, earlier allayed fears that the Christmas Eve asteroid would cause a destructive earthquake. He even used popular holiday figures to assure that the Earth would be safe and sound this Yuletide season.
"There is no cause for concern... The closest this object will come to Santa and his eight tiny reindeer is about 28 times the distance between Earth and the moon," Chodas was quoted as saying in the same statement on the NASA website.
Earlier media reports had warned that the Christmas Eve asteroid's flyby would trigger seismic activities on Earth.
