Scientists are studying the smallest ever asteroid called 2015 TC25, which measures just six feet across. This tiny space rock apparently originates from a bigger asteroid estimated to be the size of Los Angeles.

This tiny asteroid was first detected in October 2015 during the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey as the space rock was passing by dangerously close to Earth, at 128,000 kilometers or one-third the distance between the Earth and the moon.

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Scientists observed 2015 TC25 while it passed Earth and found out that it is mainly made of solid rock instead of rubble, and is also spinning so fast, completing one rotation every two minutes.

Apart from being unusually small, this asteroid is also very bright and can reflect 60 percent off of sunlight from its surface. The tiny asteroid's surface is apparently made of aubrite which is a highly reflective meteorite made of minerals that form without the presence of oxygen during extremely high temperatures.

"This marks the first time we have obtained optical, infrared and radar data on the smallest asteroid to date, which is actually a meteoroid," the lead author of the study, Vishnu Reddy, the University of Arizona and the Planetary Science Institute, said.  Technically, it is still a meteorite floating in space that has not yet hit Earth yet, he added.

This new study can help researchers to understand the early beginnings of meteorites and how they end up striking and entering Earth. Most meteorites burn up fast upon entry into the Earth's atmosphere, so it is difficult to study them.

Reddy explains that if we can detect and study asteroids and meteoroids this small, then we can now know where this population comes from, such as larger asteroids that have smaller chances of hitting Earth. For 2015 TC25, however, the chances of an impact on our planet is relatively small.

This new study was published in the Astronomical Journal.