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
Claimed moons of Earth the Earth–Moon system, whereas the orbit of a quasi-satellite would negligibly change if Earth and the Moon were suddenly removed because a quasi-satellite is orbiting the Sun on an Earth-like orbit in the vicinity of Earth. Earth possesses one known trojan, a small Solar System body caught in the planet's gravitationally stable Lagrangian point. This object, is roughly 300 metres across. Like quasi-satellites, it orbits the Sun in a 1:1 resonance with Earth, rather than Earth itself. On 14 September 2006, an object estimated at 5 meters in diameter was discovered in near-polar orbit around Earth. Originally thought to be