keywords: asteroid closest distance earth planet
text: Small Asteroid Gives Earth its Closest Shave Yet PARIS (AFP) -- A rock measuring less than 10 metres (33 feet) across zipped past the Earth at the closest distance ever detected, but it would not have posed any threat if it had struck our planet, astronomers said.      The "very small" asteroid missed the Earth on March 31 by the wafer-thin gap of 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles), according to an email circulated by the international network NEO News (NEO stands for Near-Earth Object)...