--- description: The nearly 4,000-foot asteroid that’s hurtling toward Earth on Christmas Eve will not hit the planet, NASA says. title: Christmas Eve Asteroid Will Not Destroy Us All, NASA Says image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2282e67857c9f76/698876d40b72e324ec6e76ca/christmas-asteroid.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Christmas Eve Asteroid Will Not Destroy Us All, NASA Says  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 24, 2015 7:02 PM CUT  An asteroid will safely fly past Earth at a distance of 6.8 million miles on Dec. 24. An asteroid will safely fly past Earth at a distance of 6.8 million miles on Dec. 24.NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 24, 2015 7:02 PM CUT Have no fear. The nearly 4,000-foot asteroid that’s hurtling toward Earth on Christmas Eve will not hit the planet, [NASA says](http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4807 "undefined"). The space agency issued a statement on Wednesday amid fears of an impending Armageddon, confirming the giant rock known as the “Asteroid 2003 SD220” will safely fly past Earth on Dec. 24 by at least 6.8 million miles. “There is no cause for concern over the upcoming flyby of asteroid 2003 SD220 this Christmas Eve,” said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for NEO Studies. “The closest this object will come to Santa and his eight tiny reindeer is about 28 times the distance between Earth and the moon.” The asteroid, however, will come closer to Earth in 2018 at a distance of 1.8 million miles, NASA said. It will be the closest to Earth in 2070 at about 2 million miles. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/"},"headline":"Christmas Eve Asteroid Will Not Destroy Us All, NASA Says","datePublished":"2015-12-24T19:02:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:01:37.075Z","description":"You can finish your last-minute shopping now","url":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2282e67857c9f76/698876d40b72e324ec6e76ca/christmas-asteroid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd2282e67857c9f76/698876d40b72e324ec6e76ca/christmas-asteroid.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"These images of an asteroid 3,600 feet (1,100 meters) long were taken on Dec. 17 (left) and Dec. 22 by scientists using NASA's giant Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California. This asteroid will safely fly past Earth on Dec. 24, at a distance o","caption":"An asteroid will safely fly past Earth at a distance of 6.8 million miles on Dec. 24.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/","name":"Christmas Eve Asteroid Will Not Destroy Us All, NASA Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"These Are the Elements of a Comet","description":"These Are the Elements of a Comet","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zIq2B3Xf/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-23T19:48:33.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zIq2B3Xf.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/","duration":"PT50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4161258/christmas-eve-asteroid/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```