This Christmas, an unusual visitor will be swinging through our Solar System: an asteroid shaped like a hippo. The 2003 SD220 asteroid will pass close to Earth this weekend, coming as close as 1.8 million miles from our planet. This events marks the asteroid’s closest approach in more than 400 years.
This Christmas, an unusual visitor will be swinging through our Solar System: an asteroid shaped like a hippo. The 2003 SD220 asteroid will pass close to Earth this weekend, coming as close as 1.8 million miles from our planet. This event marks the asteroid’s closest approach in more than 400 years, and if you miss it this time you’ll have to wait until 2070 for it to approach Earth any closer.
NASA has shared images of the asteroid which were captured between December 15 and 17 using a combination of telescopes and antennae.
