MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Asteroid 2006 HV5, measuring about 300 meters in diameter, has approached the Earth closer than ever this century and is now just 2.4 million kilometers away, the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics under the Russian Academy of Sciences has said in a news release.

"One of the most remarkable near-Earth asteroids of this month is 2006 HV5, which on April 26 approached us to a point that is 2.4 million kilometers away (6.3 times farther away than the Moon). The current close-up is one of the best in the 21st century. The next time 2006 HV5 is expected to be this close will be in April 2081," the news release uploaded to the institute's Telegram channel on Thursday reads.

The Keldysh Institute also said that during the close-up it managed to take pictures of the asteroid in the optical range and obtain astrometry to refine its orbit. The post also includes a photo of the celestial body.

"This is a rather large, three-hundred-meter-long space rock, reaching a brightness of the 15th magnitude. The 70-meter Goldstone solar system radar in California was able to clarify the object’s size and period of rotation (about 3.6 hours), as well as to study its shape, which is close to spherical," the Keldysh Institute said.

Asteroid 2006 HV5 was discovered on April 19, 2006.