An asteroid passed Earth as close as no other celestial body had before on Friday morning.
The truck-sized asteroid 2023 BU was closest to Earth at 01:29 (CET) at the southernmost point of South America, observing scientists said.
The distance was around 3600 kilometers at that moment.
This brought the asteroid closer to Earth than many of the satellites orbiting it.
2023 BU was discovered by an amateur stargazer less than a week ago.
The sensational discovery was made by amateur astronomer Gennady Borissow on Saturday in an observatory on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.
This had already discovered an interstellar comet in 2019.
After the existence of 2023 BU became known, the astronomy world was momentarily excited.
However, fears of an impact on Earth were quickly invalidated by calculations by the US space agency Nasa and other scientists.