A 5 meters wide asteroid discovered on Dec. 21 by Stan Pope, was found to have had made a close approach on Dec. 19, 2004 ; approaching Earth from the direction of the Sun and so would have been nearly impossible to detect prior to close passage, and passing over the Antarctica . The object, named 2004 YD5, passed over at an altitude of 36,000 kilometres, just under the orbits of geostationary satellites.
