Though it is not terrible enough this time, but still not optimistic for those unknow ones some time in future.(Asteroid 2004 XP14) Discovered in December 2004, it is one of a class of "Apollo" asteroids whose orbits cross that of the Earth.(picture credit: itv)
Initially there were concerns that the asteroid might collide with the Earth later this century. However, further analysis of its orbit has ruled this out - at least for the foreseeable future.
If XP14 did hit the Earth the effects would be devastating.
"It would probably be big enough to wipe out a small country," said Dr David Asher, from the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland.
He added: "At least we knew about this asteroid. We should be more worried about the unknown ones. There are quite a lot of them flying around out there that are still to be discovered."
The asteroid was expected to make its closest approach to the Earth at 5.25am tomorrow, UK time. At that moment it will be 268,624 miles away, or 1.1 times the Moon's average distance from Earth - a near miss in astronomical terms.
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