Radar images reveal near-Earth asteroid on path by Earth

A 1.6-kilometre (1-mile) long asteroid on a trajectory that will carry it within 2.9 million kilometres (1.8 million miles) of Earth on 22 December, its closest approach in more than 400 years and the closest until 2070 when it will by slightly closer. The asteroid, known as 2003 SD220, was discovered in 2003 by astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The above radar images were obtained by NASA’s 70-metre (230-foot) dish antenna at the agency’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California and the National Science Foundation’s 100-metre (330-foot) Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia.

Courtesy : Astronomynow