The BBC alarms with "Space rock 'on collision course'" (link from Tim Blair):
An asteroid discovered just weeks ago has become the most threatening object yet detected in space.Hmmm. Time to take out lots of long term loans and start the party early.
A preliminary orbit suggests that 2002 NT7 is on an impact course with Earth and could strike the planet on 1 February, 2019 - although the uncertainties are large.
Astronomers have given the object a rating on the so-called Palermo technical scale of threat of 0.06, making NT7 the first object to be given a positive value.
From its brightness, astronomers estimate it is about two kilometres wide, large enough to cause continent-wide devastation on Earth.
