No, the 'Christmas Eve Asteroid' Flying by Us Will Not Destroy Earth, NASA Says
The asteroid will zip past our planet at a distance of 6.8 million miles.
— -- Multiple reports saying a "Christmas Eve asteroid" zipping past Earth tonight may destroy the planet are indeed false, NASA has announced.
The 3,600-foot-long asteroid 2003 SD220 will fly by Earth tonight at a safe distance of 6.8 million miles, NASA said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The closest this object will come to Santa and his eight tiny reindeer is about 28 times the distance between Earth and the moon," said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object (NEO) Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
The asteroid will actually make its closest flyby to Earth in 2018, but it's still expected to be a safe distance away, at about 1.7 million miles, according to Lance Benner, who leads JPL's asteroid radar research program.
Meanwhile, NASA's Near-Earth Object office is taking to Twitter to debunk reports and concerns the asteroid could wipe out our planet before the end of the year.