Asteroid in near missBy Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Last week a small asteroid became the closest natural celestial object to pass by the Earth.
It was found by astronomers at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, which conducts a sky survey for so-called Near Earth Objects.
The 4 - 8 metre rock passed just 88,000 kilometres from the Earth on 27 September. That is 0.23 of the distance from the Earth to the Moon.
Designated 2003 SQ222 it was detected 11 hours after its closest approach.
Observations made by professionals and amateurs have allowed its orbit to be determined. It circles the Sun every 1.85 years.
Experts say the object is far too small to have posed a danger to Earth, although it would have been a spectacular fireball had it entered and partially fragmented in our atmosphere.
The previous record for closest approach of an asteroid was 108,000 km in 1994 by an object named 1994 XM1 that was about the same size as 2003 SQ222.
It posed no danger but it was close !
