Asteroid flies by Earth closer than any seen before, Nasa says

2018VP1, which was first identified at Palomar Observatory, California, in 2018, is not considered a “potentially hazardous object” due to its small size - with a diameter of 0.002 km (about 6.5 feet), according to Nasa data. Potentially hazardous objects - usually asteroids or comets - are those which have an orbit taking them close to Earth and are large enough to cause significant regional damage if they ever hit the planet.