Near-Earth object atmosphere, passing Earth's surface only away (about one Earth radius or one-sixtieth of the distance to the Moon). Because it was very small (6 meters/20 feet), FU was detected only hours before its closest approach. If it had collided with Earth, it probably would have disintegrated harmlessly in the atmosphere. On February 4, 2011, an asteroid designated , estimated at in diameter, passed within of the Earth, setting a new record for closest approach without impact, which still stands . On November 8, 2011, asteroid , relatively large at about in diameter, passed within (0.85 lunar distances) of Earth. On
Near-Earth object to the Earth was above the surface. It was captured by two all-sky cameras of the European Fireball Network, which for the first time enabled geometric calculations of the orbit of such a body. On March 18, 2004, LINEAR announced that a asteroid, 2004 FH, would pass the Earth that day at only , about one-tenth the distance to the Moon, and the closest miss ever noticed until then. They estimated that similar-sized asteroids come as close about every two years. On March 31, 2004, two weeks after 2004 FH, set a new record for closest recorded approach above the