The NASA-funded planetary radar system at Arecibo measured 2003 SD220 to be very elongated and more than 2 km (1.25 miles) long. It also rotates very slowly, taking more than 11 days to complete one full rotation.
If this size asteroid hit the earth then the impact energy would be about 100,000 megatons. This would make a 12 mile wide crater. This size of asteroid hits the earth once every million years.
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Goldstone Solar System Radar and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Green Bank Telescope and Very Long Baseline Array also conducted observations of 2003 SD220. Data from all of these observations are used to determine the asteroid’s shape, rotation, and surface properties as well as allow for refinement of the asteroid’s orbit, which can be used to better assess its impact hazard.
This year’s close approach is the first of five predicted encounters between Earth and 2003 SD220 in the next twelve years. High-precision measurements now will help better prepare for future passes.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Ahem–it looks like something from Cynthia Plaster Caster was tossed into the sky–Moonwatcher/2001 style.
It looks like a giant… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiWQZhUmmRw
The mixing of metric and imperial in the headline and article is sloppy and annoying.