Earth just had a 'close shave' with a 180ft asteroid - and no one saw it coming.

Astronomers in Brazil discovered asteroid 2016 QA2 on Saturday.
Asteroid thought to be between 80 and 180ft wide (25 and 55m).
The rock passed to within 50,000 miles of Earth just a day later.
That's less than a quarter of the distance between Earth and the moon.
MailOnline - http://tinyurl.com/j3g9llz

Scientists Warn Catastrophic Asteroid To Hit Earth Any Day Now

NASA has admitted that when it comes to asteroids that threaten life on Earth, they are flying blind. An asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool, large enough to wreak havoc on a regional scale, flew “an astronomical hair’s breadth” away from Earth on Sunday – and NASA didn’t even know it was coming.

By comparison the rock which hit Tunguska in Siberia in 1908 – a major event in asteroid history – scorching forest and flattening trees across thousands of square miles, is believed to have been between 200 and 620 feet wide (60 and 190 metres).

Experts believe the Earth could be hit by a humanity-destroying asteroid at any moment, and NASA would be as surprised as the rest of us.

According to NASA, if an asteroid of similar size to 2016 QA2 was to impact Earth, it would release approximately 2.5 megatons of energy in the atmosphere and would cause regional devastation.