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The asteroid, designated 2003 SQ222, came from inside the Earth's
orbit and was only spotted after it had whizzed by. The first sighting, by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search program in Arizona, USA, came a day after the close approach.
Brain Marsden of the Minor Planet Centre, in Massachusetts said, �the asteroid's 1.85 year orbit is quite eccentric, indicating it cannot be a man-made object.� He estimates the diameter of the asteroid to be less than 10 metres across, being too small to have posed a danger to Earth, although it would have made a spectacular fireball had it entered the atmosphere.
The close approach came at about 2300 GMT, only 10 hours after a bright fireball streaked over the Orissa region of India. Indian villagers have found pieces of the meteorite, which reportedly caused two house fires. However, this event was not connected to the fly past of 2003 SQ222, reported Marsden.
The previous record for closest approach of an asteroid - 108 000 kilometres, measured from the centre of the Earth - was set in 1994 by another 10 metre object known as 1994 XM1. Although the third closest approach, at 120 000 kilometres, was object 2002 MN, which was about 80 metres in diameter. If on target, that could have exploded in the Earth's lower atmosphere and potentially causes devastation over several thousand square kilometres on the ground.
The close encounter made September a busy month for astronomers after another small asteroid, 2003 SW130, missed the Earth by 160 000 kilometres on 19 September. The month also included several reports from across the world of fireballs lighting up the sky.
For details of the image opposite click here.
More info: New Scientist
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