‘The End of the World is Nigh!’ screamed newspaper headlines recently after astronomers warned that a massive asteroid was heading 1AVOID for Earth. It was predicted that the mile-wide asteroid ZF11 would hit the Earth in 2028 with 2CATASTROPHE consequences. It sounded like the stuff of science fiction, but for a while, it seemed 3ALARM threatening. Then suddenly, the danger disappeared. New calculations showed that the asteroid would miss by 600,000 miles – only fairly close in astronomical terms, but in practical terms a fairly 4SIGNIFY risk. ZF11 may not pose a danger, but the threat of other strikes still looms, and there is 5ABOUND evidence of past asteroid strikes. One of the most 6ORDINARY of these is the crater in the Yucatan Peninsula which measures some 200 km in diameter. It is thought that this is the impact site of an asteroid that struck sixty-five million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs and leading to the destruction of 70% of the Earth’s species. Scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before another celestial hulk hits home in this giant game of cosmic darts. But what really worries astronomers is the 7REAL that they have identified very few of the asteroids near the Earth. There are 8FORTUNATE thousands more that they do not know about.