AKIPRESS.COM - On the night before Christmas, Asteroid 2003 SD220 was making its closest approach to Earth. NASA managed to snap a few pics of the pickle-shaped asteroid, Gizmodo reported.

This asteroid breezed by Earth at a distance of 11 million km. Using the Deep Space Network’s 70-meter antenna at Goldstone, California, scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab acquired some grainy radio images of the large space rock. These scans were made from December 17-22 when the asteroid was at a distance of 12 million km.

“The radar images data suggest that asteroid 2003 SD220 is highly elongated and at least 3,600 feet [1,100 meters] in length,” noted JPL’s Lance Benner of JPL in a statement. “The data acquired during this pass of the asteroid will help us plan for radar imaging during its upcoming closer approach in 2018.”

Indeed, this asteroid will come back in a few years, but it’ll be even closer at a distance of 2.8 million km.

NASA’s Paul Chodas added: “The closest this object will come to Santa and his eight tiny reindeer is about 28 times the distance between Earth and the moon.”