A large asteroid will pass by the Earth on Christmas Eve

After spooky, the Asteroid Halloween, come news of another celestial object that will visit us in an important date in our calendar. But do not be afraid, this space rock will not be the Grinch that ended Christmas.
The asteroid 2003 SD200, also known as Asteroid 163899, should approach the Earth on Christmas Eve, on 24 December 2015. But it will not come this close: at a distance of 28 times greater than that between the Moon and Earth, NASA says no to worry about.



asteroid 01NASA / JPL / NHATS
Discovered in 2003, the object must pass by the Earth at a comfortable distance of 6.7 million miles, about 11 million kilometers, or 0.074 AU. At this distance, it will be visible only to professional and amateur astronomers, who can capture excellent images of the giant space rock.
Perhaps the only thing worthy of note on the asteroid 2003 SD220, and his visit at Christmas, is its size. Early estimates put it between 1.1 and 2.5 km long, but more recent observations consider that the value should be close to 2 km. The SD220 2003 is currently moving at a speed of 28,16 km / s, and is apparently a very slow rotation about a week.
The object whose shape resembles a bit a piece of pickle or the finger of a chicken, will return in 2018. NASA says it poses no threat to Earth in the next two centuries, at least.




Credit: Aricebo Observatory / NASA / NSF via EarthSky.
Contrary to what some say materials that came out in the press, the asteroid will not cause earthquakes on our planet when you are at the closest point to us. As writes Eddie Irizarry in EarthSky:

    These statements are misleading and incorrect. Even if the 2003 SD220 was spending more closely, it is very doubtful that the result would be an earthquake. In fact, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that the overflight of an asteroid can cause any seismic activity, unless it collides with Earth, but it is clearly not the case here.
The subject is in NHATS the list of potentially accessible to human objects. So astronomers of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Goldstone Observatory in California, are monitoring the asteroid in the coming weeks.
[NASA; EarthSky]