A small asteroid, perhaps 3 to 6 meters in diameter - the size of a room or house - came within 88,000 km of Earth late on Friday, September 27 2003. Less than a quarter of the distance to the Moon, this is the closest well-documented Earth encounter of an asteroid that has not struck our atmosphere. Known as 2003 SQ222, the asteroid was imaged a few hours after close approach by Michael Van Ness, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. Read more