A small asteroid swooped within 7,366 miles of Earth on Feb. 4 – today – at 2:40 p.m. EST [19:40 UT].

The object, called 2011 CQ1, was discovered earlier today by astronomer Richard Kowalski using a 0.68-meter telescope near Mount Bigelow outside of Tuscon, Arizona as part of the Catalina Sky Survey's routine scanning of the skies for small objects that come close to Earth.

2011 CQ1 is tiny by asteroid standards, only about 6.5 to 10 feet across. But though it is small, it will be close. The last asteroid to come within moon-distance to Earth, 2010 TD54, stayed a chaste 27,960 miles away at its closest approach Oct. 12 – more than three times the distance to 2011 CQ1.

The asteroid is not on a collision course with Earth, but it will come well within the so-called Clarke Belt where satellites in geosynchronous orbit hang out.

Although the daytime skies are too bright to see the new object in the US, 2011 CQ1 will be visible for a few hours in dark skies, according to Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero of Remanzacco Observatory in Italy. If you're under those dark skies and catch a photo of this new object, send us your best shots.

Via Spaceweather.com

Image: G. Sostero and E. Guido

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