World may end on March 16, 2880, but 99.988 per cent chance it won't

The Rock is due to fly past Earth today

The asteroid most likely, the 1.3km wide Asteroid 29075, is likely to pass close to Earth on March 16, 2880. Barring miraculous advances in medical science, none of us are likely to be around, but even so, we'd like to feel the Earth can survive the close encounter.

Feel secure then, as it is estimated that only the probability of impact is one chance in 8300, or 99.988 per cent chance the asteroid will miss.

Asteroid talk has come to the fore again, following the announcement that The Rock  - also known as Asteroid 2014 JO25 will pass with the distance of four moon orbits of Earth (or about 1.8 million kilometres away) later today (Thursday, 20 April 2017)

However, it is not seen as much of a threat, even less than 29075.

In any case, the Planetary Defence Council (sounds like something from The Three Body Problem) is running a simulation in May to prepare us for defending against a catastrophic asteroid collision.

Let's hope they do better than Liu Cixin's characters manage!